


Not all I worship and adore

by cubpen



Series: Hand in hand, we fall across dimensions [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Dimension Travel, Dragons, Established Relationship, Falling In Love, Fate, Fate & Destiny, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Humor, M/M, Magic, Magic-Users, Other, Platonic Soulmates, Possibly Unrequited Love, Prophecy, Protective Siblings, Romantic Soulmates, Runes, Soulmates, Unreliable Narrator, gratuitous use of multiverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2018-12-24 01:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12001656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cubpen/pseuds/cubpen
Summary: Yaku Morisuke was expected to become the priest of the local shrine some day—just like his dad and generations before him—but he always skipped lessons to go play volleyball.In hindsight, those lessons might've helped him figure out what to do when the shrine's two dragon gods came to life.... Then again, "How to make a dragon named Lev stop being a clingy brat" probably wasn't on the curriculum.Sequel toBeing your roommate is the...





	1. You are all we long for

Every New Year's holiday has been the same for Yaku ever since he was old enough to hold a broom. Being the son of a shrine priest meant that he spent every turn of the year working: sweeping up trash, selling charms, handing out pamphlets, and nearly every other boring task under the sun.

Well, even the sun wasn't doing him any good in the cold winter air. He rubbed at his chapped nose and sighed. 

Maybe someone from the team would stop by, this year.

 

* * *

 

Iwaizumi hadn't been to a shrine for New Year's in ages, but he had a good feeling Tooru would have a lot of fun. It was just the kind of thing the dragon would love: there would be groups of friends, families, tourists—all happily bustling about in a place steeped in culture and tradition. Sure enough, Tooru was scampering from booth to booth, chatting with a group of girls getting their fortunes, buying charms, helping an elderly man find his wife... and they'd only been there for fifteen minutes.

Kuroo took a sip of his coffee. "Ahhh," he sighed with satisfaction. "I feel like we're an old married couple watching our kid play outside."

Iwaizumi made a face. "Captain, that's messed up on so many levels." ... But he laughed anyway, since it really wasn't such a stretch after all. They were two grown men standing just a bit away from the crowd, Kuroo in a flannel jacket and Iwaizumi in a plain fleece pullover, drinking their coffee and wondering how kids these days have so much energy. Kuroo probably knew some dad jokes.

One similarity they didn't consider was that little kids get lost all the time.

"... Where's Tooru?" Iwaizumi asked, when he was starting to feel too calm and peaceful. When was the last time he finished a cup of coffee without Tooru stealing it from him? He tried texting, but there was no reply.

Kuroo shrugged. "Ehh, probably off playing go with some old folks or whatever."

Iwaizumi's face was grave and his voice solemn when he said, "So, the last place Tooru was this excited was at the zoo."

"Okay?" Kuroo chuckled a little. "Kind of random. But who doesn't love the zoo?"

"I left him alone for ten minutes and found him carrying a komodo dragon around like a baby inside its enclosure. He said it looked like a mini version of some rare species of dragon he knows? Or, I mean," Iwaizumi caught himself, "... knows from a book he just read."

Kuroo raised an eyebrow.

"Anyway," said Iwaizumi, clearing his throat. "Tooru really likes little versions of things for some reason? And he has zero restraint or boundaries when it comes to things he likes."

(And Iwaizumi encouraged it, when _he was_  on the receiving end of that zero restraint. But Kuroo didn't need to know that.)

Kuroo's eyes went wide. "Seriously? Does that apply to people?"

"Huh? What?" (Iwaizumi's mind was definitely elsewhere just now.)

"Short people. Does Tooru do the same thing with short people."

"Yeah, actually," Iwaizumi laughed. "Good thing he hasn't met Yaku-san."

Everyone on the volleyball team knew mentioning Yaku's height was A Bad Idea, unless you liked getting kicked by a guy whose leg strength was rumored to rival their ace Bokuto's arm.

But in his mind, Kuroo could already see Tooru cooing at Yaku, maybe even trying to hold _him_ like a baby. Someone was going to get hurt, and it was probably the someone who wasn't a college athlete like Yaku.

"Uhh... I wouldn't be so sure about that. We should probably find him."

 

* * *

 

 _Pop quiz,_ thought Kuroo.  _What do you do when you see the part-time caretaker of a dragon-worshipping shrine chase a guy in a dragon costume around with a broomstick?_

"Hmm," Iwaizumi muttered. "Too bad a broom's not very practical for inside the apartment, but the range is much better..." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. It was tricky, finding ways to make Tooru stop being an idiot at home that didn't result in accidentally breaking a window with a volleyball. He felt like Yaku was really onto something here. 

"But you're even tinier than you look from the bleachers!" They heard Tooru call out, a little breathlessly from giggling and running.

"Well! He's a good runner," Kuroo commented. "And he's even wearing that tail. But isn't some dragon god going to strike them with lightning or whatever? This all seems pretty sacrilegious."

Iwaizumi was busy fiddling with his phone. "... They can make storms but not the lightning itself," he corrected without thinking.

"Say what now?"

"Oh. Captain." Iwaizumi looked up like he just remembered Kuroo was there. "Do you think you can get a video of this? My phone camera sucks."

"Yeah, okay," Kuroo replied, pulling out his phone. He was glad he came out with these two today, because he had a feeling they were about to prove his suspicions right.

 

* * *

 

After Yaku and Tooru calmed down, and were officially introduced to each other by Kuroo and Iwaizumi, they seemed to become totally different people.

"Well, to be honest, everyone looks the same size from where the fans sit," Tooru was saying. "You just stand out because you're _so fast_."

Yaku handed him some tea with a smile.

"This is beautiful!" Tooru exclaimed, examining the cup.

"My mom made this whole set," Yaku said, almost bashfully, and the two of them launched into a deep conversation about pottery.

"Wait," Kuroo said to Iwaizumi. "I didn't know that about Yakkun's mom, and I've known their family since I was a teenager. Tooru's really good with strangers, huh."

It was meant as a compliment, but it only made Iwaizumi suspicious. He narrowed his eyes at Tooru, wondering what all this flattery was about. "He's only this nice when he wants something."

Sure enough, after a few more minutes, Tooru started to whine at Iwaizumi. He always got extra impatient when he got what he wanted and was ready to reap the rewards.

"Come onnnn, Iwa-chan! You're so slow! Yaku-san doesn't have all day, you know." He took hold of Iwaizumi's hands and dragged him to his feet.

"What?"

Tooru beamed. "We're gonna go see the dragons in the worship hall!"

 

* * *

 

"So how did you know this is a fire dragon shrine? We don't really advertise it." Yaku asked, leading the group further into the temple grounds.

"Oh, 'cause my mom was part-"

Iwaizumi coughed.

"-ial to Japanese mythology!" Tooru finished. "What kind of dragon is worshipped here? Um, I don't know if these are the names you guys use. But is the dragon Volcanic? Subterranean? High Eastern? Or is it one of the combustion types?"

"Tooru," Iwaizumi warned.

"Wait, no." Tooru paused, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. The Spirit around here... "Blood dragons?! Really? What family? High Eastern? Deep North?"

"... Deep North." Alarms were blaring in Yaku's head. That was something only recorded within the scrolls housed in the sanctuary. _Am I related to Tooru? If his mom knows_... ? Was there any alternative? 

"No. WAY!" Tooru yelled. "Ooh, I can't wait~"

Yaku looked askance at Iwaizumi, who was trying very hard to avoid eye contact.

_Who exactly is Tooru?_

 

* * *

 

The four of them stood side by side, staring at the painted screens inside the dim worship hall.

Kuroo had been in here before. He was more interested in seeing what the deal was with everyone else. _Especially_  Tooru.

Iwaizumi noticed that these dragons looked much more serpentine than Tooru, with shorter legs but long, sinuous bodies. He wondered if they were his ancestors, or just another type altogether.

Yaku definitely had an odd—not bad, but odd—feeling standing next to Tooru. He just... Yaku couldn't figure it out, but whatever it was felt extra potent in here.

And then, there was Tooru himself. He took one look, tried to play off a laugh like it was a coughing fit, then immediately excused himself and went outside.  But as usual, he was loud and chatty enough for them to hear every word:

"Hey! It's Tooru. Where are you right now? ... Oh good, I have to show you something. ... Uh huh, yeah. ... ... Nope! I'll get you a Portal. It's to the human dimension, so Compress beforehand, okay? 'kay. ... ... Oh, definitely bring him. ... Yep. See you soon!"

Iwaizumi tried to figure out if it would be better or worse for his own safety and sanity to ask what that was about. But Tooru was already runeweaving anyway, so he simply sat next to him on the front steps and braced himself for the worst. 

Back inside, Yaku glanced at his friend. "So that's Iwaizumi's guy, huh. Do you feel like he's kind of... weird?"

Kuroo gave him an _are you serious?_ look. "Dude, what do you mean 'kind of'? That guy is _made of_  organic, hundred-percent-natural weird. But he's the one who pulled the stick out of Iwaizumi's ass, so it's probably a good weird?"

"Whatever floats Iwaizumi's boat," Yaku replied. Kuroo snorted, and they laughed together.

After a while, Yaku and Kuroo stood in comfortable silence, as old friends do.

"So you're all right today," Yaku said.

"I'm fine! Fine," Kuroo said lightly, waving his hand like he was shooing Yaku's concerns away, then changed the subject. "But what about you? Did Tooru just give away some big mysterious family secret? I've never heard about any of this blood dragon stuff."

"Jeez..." Yaku shook his head. "No, I mean, it's not some deep dark secret, it's just really bad for advertising, you know? Blood dragons don't have as much public appeal compared to 'Shrine of the heavenly dragon' or 'Peaceful dragon temple'. But the thing is—"

"Ahh!" A woman exclaimed behind them. "That looks _just_ like us!"

The two guys turned around.

"Whoa," they said.

She was tall and slender, with long, silver hair that looked translucent with the sun at her back. She wore a set of deer-like antlers and had a long, thin tail reminiscent of a snake's. With her almost unnaturally light complexion and a shimmery white dress, the woman seemed to glow.

No, Yaku thought. There really was light and warmth flowing from her into the darkness of the hall where he and Kuroo stood.

She turned away from them for a moment and called, with a slight accent neither Kuroo nor Yaku could place, "Tooru-sama! Why are there paintings of us in this place?"

Tooru hopped up the steps to join the woman at the entrance. "Guys, this is Alisa. She's the one on the left," he said, pointing at the screens. "And ... where's Lev?"

Alisa frowned. "He was right behind me, I'm not sure what he could be—"

There was a _loud_ ripping sound outside, followed by a bestial, earth-shaking roar.

Tooru shielded his face with his forearms just in time to intercept the dozens of severed, recoiling Spirit threads springing back to his body. They whipped at him, these near-tangible manifestations of his energy now slashing into his coat sleeves and making shallow cuts on his skin. 

"He's tearing through the Portal... ?!" Tooru couldn't believe it. "Alisa! I'm opening another one there. Pull him _and_ the Portal down. _Go!_ "

They rushed outside in a whirlwind of anxious energy and desperation. "What exactly is all of this?" Yaku murmured, once he and Kuroo were alone in the hall again. He was starting to put two and two together, and he definitely did not like the answers he was coming up with.

"You tell me, man," said Kuroo, also staring in awe. "She's your god or whatever. But one thing I do know..." he said in a low, hesitant voice.

Yaku gulped and looked up at his friend.

"I bet Alisa there would be good marketing for the temple."

"Why are we friends again?" Yaku groaned, but he was also smiling again.) "Your jokes are terrible."

Kuroo shrugged. "Just doin' my job, makin' my friends laugh in weird awkward supernatural situations."

 

* * *

 

Outside, Kuroo and Yaku found Tooru doubled over and Iwaizumi with his arm around him protectively.

"Whoa, hey—" Kuroo rushed over to help.

"Can someone check my phone. Text," said Tooru, struggling to straighten himself back up. His voice was strained, raspy.

"Captain, could you..." said Iwaizumi, jerking his head towards the phone in Tooru's pocket. His hand was pretty much right next to the phone, but Kuroo realized he was asking because he didn't want to let go of Tooru.

Kuroo stared at all the weird symbols on the otherwise normal phone but found the notifications easily enough.

"Alisa says, 'Done. Still upset but,' and then an ok emoji'," he read.

Iwaizumi didn't really understand this, but Tooru was weaving again. Stopping him was his first priority; if Tooru overextended himself again, the  _best_ possible outcome was that he would release into full dragon form here at the temple and maybe accidentally crush everyone around so there would be no witnesses.

"Just wait a few minutes!" Iwaizumi insisted, trying to stop Tooru's hand. "You're already running on empty."

"We need... he... gotta move fast with Lev," Tooru said with a shaky voice. "Help me?" He held out his free hand, which Iwaizumi took. "... Even though you're still bad at this?" Tooru added, still managing to grin, though it looked forced and unnatural.

Iwaizumi pretended to be annoyed, but he knew Tooru's false bravado when he saw it. "Hey," he said softly. "Remember what I said? Whenever things get rough, let me take care of it."

"Iwa-chan, so reliable... I'm counting on you." Tooru visibly relaxed and kissed him on the cheek.

Yaku and Kuroo both turned away. Whatever happened between Iwaizumi and Tooru just now felt much deeper and more intimate than a simple kiss, though neither outsider could say why.

However, that tender moment went awry very, very quickly. Kuroo and Yaku heard their friends curse under their breaths and knew something had changed. They turned back to see Iwaizumi looking like he was in the same state Tooru was... no, they were both _worse_.

"Still missed," Tooru groaned. "Lev..."

He and Iwaizumi slumped to the ground and passed out.

Kuroo was at their side in an instant, but Yaku's intuition told him to stay put and look up; it was that same feeling again, like in the worship hall, except it came from above.

He felt bile rise up in his throat from the horror of seeing a person falling through the sky. _Is that..._

She was still glowing like before. Still alive.

_This is a bad idea this is a bad idea she's falling too fast—_

But more than a decade of playing in the libero's position for volleyball meant that watching and intercepting objects flying at high speeds happened by pure instinct; putting himself in its path was a necessity. Actual, logical thoughts were much too slow to be effective. He settled his nerves, centered himself with his knees bent in a slight crouch, and watched.

" _Oneechan!!_ " A man's voice cried from above.

Yaku sighted the trajectory of the falling body one last time and _moved_.

 

* * *

 

"Ooof!" The momentum of Alisa's fall made Yaku stumble and fall on his butt, but even then he still had time to cushion her head from the hard, stone tile beneath them.

For the first time in his life, he was ready to believe in every god or mystic energy or spirit or higher being ever. It was the only explanation for Alisa hitting him no harder than a spiked volleyball.

That was way too easy. In a weird, wrong way.

"Alisa!!"

A stranger landed (?) next to them. Yaku thought he saw wings (??), but he was still reeling from that impossible catch and his brain felt all jumbled up and  _yep, no wings. Horns and a tail just like Alisa's though._

The man snatched Alisa from Yaku and hugged her to his chest.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm—"

The color of his skin, just as pale and otherworldly as Alisa's, turned pure white before black splotches appeared all over.

 _No, not black,_ Yaku realized.  _Like wine in a bottle. Dark, blood red._

Alisa shifted in his hold and ( _finally, thankfully_ ) opened her eyes. "Shh, _Lyovochka_ , it wasn't you," she said with a soft smile and an impossibly calm demeanor considering she almost just fell to her death. 

"Alisa?" The voice was harsh and grating and wrong _—_ the man no longer had anything even remotely resembling a mouth; that darkness had crept up his neck and covered the bottom half of his face like a mask. Yaku felt like his words were coming from _everywhere_ and digging its claws into his brain.

"And everybody's fine, see—" Alisa couldn't finish her sentence; she turned away and barely managed to cover a dry, hacking cough with the crook of her elbow. Green spots stained the sleeve of her dress.

The newcomer let go with a look of horror. At least, his eyes seemed to suggest such an expression; it was hard to tell now that none of his other features were visible any more.

" _Alisa Alisa Alisa Alisa..."_  He was a dark, vaguely human-shaped form now distorting and growing in size with every chant of her name.

"Lev! Alisa!" Tooru shouted. With Kuroo's help, he and Iwaizumi scrambled over. They placed their joined hands, now glowing too but with a blue tint, on Alisa's back. Healing energy flowed within her.

Tooru shot her a quick grin. "You couldn't release so you Compressed _more_? In this form? Really, there's always a spot for you in the royal guard. You'd give Issei a run for his money."

Alisa shook her head no. "It was just the only thing I could think of. If I fell on one of these poor humans without doing something, I'd never forgive myself. She paused to wheeze from the pain her cough stirred up. "But you shouldn't be doing this for me, To—"

"Right. Like we're gonna send you to the hospital and let human doctors figure out why all of your organs can fit in the palm of my hand."

Alisa laughed. "Really, I'm fine now." She marveled at Tooru's powers. He looked exhausted, but that was the fastest and most thorough Spirit release and healing she'd ever received for this degree of injury. Perhaps, the human ( _?_ ) with him...

But that wasn't important now. She turned her attention back to her brother, gently cradling his head with her hands and started to sing to him in a language none of them knew.

Except Yaku, who spoke the last line with her.

They gaped at each other—Yaku amazed that another stranger knew _another_ secret of the sanctuary, and Alisa with tears in her eyes.

" _Oneechan_ , are you okay?" Lev croaked. He sounded rough, but he looked just fine, now; the dark color receded as quickly as it came. "Why are you crying?"

"Welcome back, little lion," Alisa said, smoothing down his hair with one hand. "And trust me, I'm crying because I'm happy." She got a huge grin and a clumsy kiss on the cheek in return.

Lev then flopped on top of Yaku with all the grace of a wobbly newborn giraffe.

Yaku (who was still on the ground in a bit of pain, by the way) guessed this was supposed to be a hug. But the only thing he was sure of was their height difference, Lev being much taller ( _than he has any right to be_ ). The effect was more like Lev smothering Yaku into his chest.

"You saved my sister!!" Lev exclaimed. He either didn't notice or didn't care that Yaku was flailing around like a freshly caught fish. "Who are you? You're really cool! Are you really a human? Or a hatchling? Whoa, if you're a dragon, you Compress really well. Can you teach me? I'm Lev, and this is my sister Alisa. How do you know our prince? How do you know our song? How—"

Kuroo interrupted him. "Wait, wait. Before the Q&A, just bear with me here. First, I need everyone breathing, so if you two could," he wagged his finger between Lev and Yaku, "... Yep, there we go."

Yaku was sure he was seeing things again, because Lev seemed to be pouting as he let go.

"Now, I'm a little bit slower than all of you," Kuroo continued, "so I'm just gonna straight-up ask: can everyone here who is NOT a human raise their hands?"

Tooru and Alisa did, somewhat sheepishly, but Lev was reaching up as high he could and waving at Kuroo with a big smile.

"Gotcha," Kuroo nodded, giving Lev a wink and a small wave in return. "Thanks, guys. Just making sure."

(" _Oneechan_ , he waved back at me!" Lev whispered, any attempt at being discreet ruined by the fact that he was bouncing up and down. Alisa gave him and Kuroo the same, brilliant smile.)

"Right," said Iwaizumi, scratching the back of his head. "So, ah, for the humans present, my boyfriend is some kind of dragon prince from another dimension, and I guess his friends are the shrine's blood dragon gods. Or something. But they're not the kinds who experiment with human brains, I don't think. So that's cool." He turned to Tooru. "Is that the only way to tell? Because they have horns?"

"Oh Iwa-chan, you're finally getting it! I've waited so long for this day," Tooru pretend-sobbed, swooning and wiping his nonexistent tears away. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

Yaku couldn't manage full sentences right now. "So, your," he twirled a finger near his head, "and this," and did the same to his back. "Actual dragon parts?"

"Yeah! Wanna touch them??" Lev asked, lowering his head and nudging Yaku in the face with the tip of a horn.

"It's a dragons-being-nice thing," Iwaizumi explained.

Lev moved his head up and down to rub his horn on Yaku's face. Yaku looked equal parts offended and horrified. "Uhm. This. Thanks. But no thanks," he choked out.

"O-kaaay..." Lev said, sounding a little concerned. "But it's better to do it now, I think, 'cause after I stand up you won't be able to ree _eeooowww!_ "

Tooru dragged Lev away by one ear, and Kuroo guided Yaku towards the opposite direction. "Let's keep the nice dragons happy and not near any brooms for now," he said.

Alisa followed them. She stopped Yaku and held one of his hands in both of hers. "I'm so sorry, I don't know your name, but thank you... you saved me. And Lev. ... I think—no, I'm _sure_ you're the one we've been looking for all this time."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic & chapter titles based on lyrics for the song "Fly Me to the Moon."


	2. To sing for ever more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mother and daughter, sister and brother, human and dragon.

Hitoka rubbed her eyes. It'd been so long since she last slept properly. 

_... Does being tired make things look blurry?_

_Oh no, will I lose my eyesight?! But if I can't see, I can't water the plants, or watch the cards, and then something bad will happen to Mom because she said everything depends on those cards, and—_

An ad popped up on her computer, with an annoying sound effect that made her look up.

 _"AMAZING new superfood!"_ she read from across the room. " _Groundbreaking consumer research shows that you MUST buy—"_

_Oh. Haha... guess my eyes are fine..._

It was the card in her hand. The _painting_ was blurry. She carefully wiped it clean with a cloth and examined it front and back. When that didn't help, she looked around anxiously to make sure no one was watching... and then held the card up to her nose and sniffed it. Maybe it would give her a hint, she thought, but she realized how silly that idea was when there was only the faint smell of wood.

At least it wasn't the varnish turning cloudy. That, she knew for sure, because she made the gesso and the pigmented oils and the varnish herself, used them to carefully paint portraits of the human and dragons who occupied her dreams for as long as she could remember. (She wasn't the one who made them magical, though; that was all her mother.)

These portraits, paintings on wooden panels the size and thickness of an iPad, were the cards she watched over day after day without fail. And the one thing in the world Hitoka thought she might be good at was oil painting, and all the history and tradition around it. So the one thing, the _only_ thing she knew right now, was that the varnish would stay clear as day for years and years to come.

_Maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing. Like I always do._

Most of her cards did have their little quirks—especially at this time of year. Like how The Hanged Man's image would fade for a week or so; oh, how she panicked the first time it happened. She thought she left the card too close to the window and apologized to it _at least_  five times a day. Then, one morning, he was right back to normal like none of it ever happened. He was good at that, she learned over the years, acting like nothing was wrong. Even though his soul was tethered to this strange and terrible fate: to be imprisoned, hanging upside down, with a black, wrought-iron chain of his own making.

And there was the way that The Lovers looked more stressed and strained over the holiday, even though they were with family and free from school and sports. Yet, their bond became stronger and stronger, year after year. They were such an odd couple, she always thought, with their opposite backgrounds and personalities, with the way they turned the formalities of _Bokuto-san_  and _Akaashi_  from a way to hide their relationship to terms of endearment laced with love and affection that only they could truly understand. Hitoka _adored_ them.

So maybe this was just another Thing, one that she just never noticed before because she wasn't as good at her task as she should be. And _maybe_ she was being extra paranoid right now because she really loved this particular card, the one with the beautiful woman who reminded her of her mom.

_Mom would know what's wrong, and how to fix it. But she's so busy, and important, and I'm just me, getting worried over nothing..._

It was hard for Hitoka not to feel a bit lonely at times like this in the little room, with only her cards and her flowers to keep her company. They were her lifeline, reminded her that her mom thinks of her every day.

_Even though I don't get to see Mom, even though I doubt I'm really helping her by being here... she still leaves flowers for me every morning._

That thought alone got her through the toughest times.  

Today's was a single amaryllis with petals of the darkest crimson. It made her think of that card again, of Alisa, so beautiful and smart and brave just like Mom, the dragon who along with her brother were the last of their kind.

_They must feel a thousand times worse than I do._

Her heart skipped a beat. A revelation?  _Is this why the card is—_

 _Wrong again, Hitoka._  She hung her head and slumped her shoulders, disappointed at herself for getting that excited.  _Alisa's been so sad for a very long time, but this is new._

She reluctantly set the card back down on her desk, letting her fingers linger a moment longer before checking in on the others. For now, she would have to pretend that it didn't feel so heavy yet fragile in her hands.

 

* * *

 

Yaku thought of all those times when the first years on the volleyball team would take too long cleaning up after practice. When that happened, he always said something like, "Hurry up already so you can go home and eat a proper dinner!" Or, "You guys move slower than snails! Go to class!"

He _really_  wanted to say something like that to Alisa, now. She was so-very-slowly examining and reexamining every single detail on the mural inside the sanctuary, though the lighting was here was dim and the smell musty. Still, she pored over every painting and every carving in sight, moving her lips silently when she found fragments of sentences painted in faded ink.

Yaku sighed. Maybe he should say something like, _We're breaking in, here, not sightseeing!_  Or, _Let's go outside before your brother hulks out and becomes some massive, out-of-control monster who can destroy an entire mountain range with one swipe of his arm?_

(He really wished he hadn't asked her to tell him more about Lev's curse.)

But he let her take her time. There was something so sincere about Alisa, the responsible big sister who traveled the world to find a cure for something that sounded like an impossible mission. A total lost cause.

The truth was ugly, sometimes.

He started riffling through a shelf full of old scrolls to distract himself.

"There's definitely more to the song," Alisa whispered reverently, even though she herself was technically the diety of the shrine. "But," she sighed at the wall before her. "This is too faded to read."

Guilt and regret weighed on Yaku's mind. Not having an answer for her was more uncomfortable than he expected. He didn't particularly want to get involved in dragon business, but he  _always_  knew how to help anyone, _with_ the _best_ possible advice, and  _without_ breaking rules or hurting someone else.

But since meeting Tooru, Alisa, and Lev, he'd gone as far as "borrowing" the key to the sanctuary from the family altar and breaking every single rule by letting a stranger in. And it wasn't even worth it, because he _still_  didn't know what to say.

His dad had told him, a while back:  _If you can remember all those strange English loan words for volleyball, you can memorize this one poem._  So he did, then promptly forgot all the words. He forgot the thing existed, honestly, until today when they seemed to need it the most.

_Well, if Dad had said it was for curing some mysterious dragon disease or curse or whatever, I would've tried a little harder!_

He wondered what his life would've been like if he had put as much of himself into this as he did with volleyball. Yaku Morisuke, the libero, giving way to Yaku Morisuke, the priest in training.

... No, there was just no point in a profession based on old myths and unseen spirits. Even when one of those myths was standing right in front of him.

"There!" Alisa exclaimed, snapping him back to reality. "There's something in the one you're holding!"

It looked like every other scroll in the room, two cylindrical rolls covered in red silk brocade. Yaku gave her a questioning look.

"There's dragon Spirit inside. But, no. Actually, it feels more like Prince Tooru's friend, something a bit stronger than what we... have... ?" Alisa let the explanation trail off.

_Is she talking about Iwaizumi?_

Yaku didn't know what exactly dragons were capable of, but Tooru had some kind of magic portal that made two people—dragons—appear out of thin air, and Alisa survived a fall from who knows how high.

_Is she saying Iwaizumi is stronger than dragons?!_

He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer to that question. Instead, he unfurled the scroll and read:

 

> _Temperance and The Devil find_  
>  _The High Priestess one step behind._
> 
> _Strength, alone, will not suffice_  
>  _She must seek help through sacrifice._
> 
> _So hush, little lion, have no fear_  
>  _All will be well when she is near._
> 
> _Through her wishes and words, you will be freed_  
>  _To heal The World in its time of need_

Yaku was sure Alisa's expression mirrored his own: somewhat surprised, very perplexed, and, in the end, a bit disappointed.

He almost didn't want to ask, but... "Is any of this new to you? Does it help at all?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Seeing the rest of it... I didn't realize we already knew half the words. And I still don't understand how this is supposed to help Lev. Can we tell the others? Of course, only if it doesn't get you in trouble with your family..."

When Yaku first saw Alisa, he thought she was some kind of runway model. But then he realized it wasn't just her looks. He was _sure_ , somehow, that if she were a human she would've belonged on a stage bringing excitement and joy to her fans, in the limelight, on the front page of the news for doing something amazing—someplace where everyone could and would admire her beauty  _and_ her powerful, endless determination.

But right now, she seemed so lost and sad and _scared._ Looking at her felt like a punch in the gut.

"Oh, of course, this is private for your family," Alisa said quickly. "Maybe I could ask one of the royal scholars myself now that Issei... " she murmured to herself.

"Hey. Uh, it's fine. I don't think my parents'll mind," said Yaku. He gave her a small smile and took a picture of the scroll.

 

* * *

 

The rest of their group was waiting outside. Kuroo seemed to be snickering at something Lev just said, while Tooru and Iwaizumi sat side by side on a low fence, holding hands while kicking at each other.

 _Cute_ , Yaku thought, but then he saw Tooru's feet. They were most definitely _not_ human and _not_ cute: scaly with three toes, each ending in a huge, curved claw that gleamed in the sunlight. 

Iwaizumi saw Yaku's jaw drop and gave Tooru an _I-told-you-so_  look. "Sorry about him," he told Yaku. "He usually only does the claws and no shoes thing at home. _Oi_ , _put your foot away, dumbass._ "

Tooru scoffed and smacked Iwaizumi on the shoulder, launching a silly shoving and poking match that could easily pass for a fight between kids on a playground. If you could accept that the "kids" were a 21 year old man and ( _21?_ ) year old dragon.

With this bizarre display of affection ( _??_ ) in front of him, Yaku didn't even feel like telling them off for messing around. He settled for silently offering Tooru his phone.

The dragon read over the words a few times while swatting his boyfriend's hands away with his tail.

"I mean, I can ask Kei-san, but I don't..." He scratched his horn.

"O-oh! Please, no," Alisa said, flustered. "Not your personal tutor. It's too much trouble for you, and him, and—"

Tooru looked confused. "Alisa, what happened? Why are you acting..."

She lowered her head and closed her eyes.

"... Never mind. What I was going to say was, I don't think Kei-san ever cared much about anything with no death or dismemberment involved."

"Did you say death or dismemberment?" Yaku asked. His voice was much smaller than he thought it would be.

Tooru nodded. "Yep. I'll text him, but he's with Freckles-kun's family right now so we should try and figure this out ourselves first. So obviously Alisa's the high priestess here, and the lion is Lev. What about..."

 _Maybe Iwaizumi really isn't human_ , Yaku thought, taking a few tentative steps back to remove himself from the group. _He looks so damn... relaxed? Comfortable? In his element, even? No human in their right mind would look that comfortable around a bunch of dragons. Hell, he's living with one. A DRAGON, for God's sake._

Yaku left them alone and headed towards the only other definitely-human human around.

_... Or... ?_

He cleared his throat and tried to sound casual. "Kuroo. You're not a dragon, too, right?"

"Actually." Kuroo hung his head and stared at the ground. "I meant to tell you sooner. My horns and tail were cut off in an accident when I was three years old, and so..." He ran his fingers through his hair. 

All of the blood drained from Yaku's face.

Kuroo's doleful expression morphed into something strained and tight-lipped. His shoulders were trembling, and he was clenching his jaw tight—

—from trying not to laugh.

" _Mmmpppfffffftttt_ dude look at your _face!_ " Kuroo squawked, pointing and laughing at Yaku until he doubled over from giving himself a stomach cramp.

It took him a while to settle back down. "Hah, no, just kidding. Lighten _up_ a little! Real answer, not a dragon. This is some weird non-human shit that a human like me can barely understan—" Kuroo yelped and  _jumped,_ because who wouldn't after being literally kicked in the ass.

"Okay, _ow, damn it,_ but as your captain: good work on that strength training. Come on, let's go get some snacks while they do dragon stuff."

Neither of them noticed that someone decided to tag along...

 

* * *

 

Being surrounded by a crowd of unhorned, untailed humans was doing wonders for Yaku's state of mind. This boring event with the same old rituals year after year now felt like coming home after a stressful day at school or practice.

"Hey, Kuroo, you think dragons eat grilled squid? It'd be easy to carry without dripping—"

"YES _oh man_  you can _grill_  them?!"

That was all the warning they got before Lev fell out of a tree.

"Humans are smart! I eat squids all the time, but I just grab one from the water and pop it in my mouth. I should try coughing some fire on one next time. How do you humans catch them, anyway? They're so big compared to you!" Lev exclaimed/said/asked. He looked perfectly comfortable sprawled out on the ground with leaves sticking out of his hair.

Yaku took advantage of the fact that Lev was temporarily, though still blissfully, shorter than him. He glared down at the dragon and tried not to look _too_  smug and satisfied about that. "You know your sister's trying to help you, right? Shouldn't you be helping her instead of messing around here?"

"But I can't _always_ do whatever she's doing," Lev huffed. "Plus, I should be training, 'cause I'm gonna be the strongest dragon ever and save the world!"

"Oh, come on." Yaku was getting annoyed. "What the hell does this—"

"Yakkun, _relax_." Kuroo stepped in. "Give the kid a break! Like, really, let him have a break from all this dark blood curse stuff. Let's just walk around the booths for a little while then head back. Lev, what do you think?"

The dragon's eyes sparkled, and his horns were sort of twitching a bit. Yaku noticed that they were... fuzzy? With rounded tips that looked so soft and—

"Can we, Yaku-san?"

"Huh? W-wh... Why are you asking me?!" he spluttered.

There was something about Lev right now, though, that made him actually consider the request. It was like the feeling that made him wait for Alisa earlier, except, no. This was different. More like when Lev made that sorry attempt at a hug... ?

Yaku slapped his hands over his own cheeks, trying to hide the fact that they were getting unreasonably warm.

_This idiot... Why do you care what I think?_

He conceded. For now. "... Fine. Just for a few minutes."

"Yeah!!" Lev launched himself up off the ground with his tail, landing neatly on his feet. He gestured for Kuroo and Yaku to come along.

Kuroo shrugged. "Think of it as cancelling that bad karma from chasing _an actual dragon_  around a dragon shrine with a broom." He chuckled at Yaku's world-weary sigh and followed Lev into the crowd.

 

* * *

 

"So obviously Alisa's the high priestess here, and the lion is Lev. What about this devil? An enemy to dragons?" Tooru thought out loud, pacing back and forth in front of Alisa.

Her lip quivered. "I hope I'm not the priestess."

"Ehh? Really? Who else can it be?" said Tooru. "You're the only one who can take him down when he's transformed, and you're the one trying to cure him."

Iwaizumi spoke up. "Don't you mean 'talk him down'?"

Tooru shook his head no. "Remember that place you Jumped to, where Dad and I were fighting?"

"Of course," was what Iwaizumi said to Tooru, but he was really thinking, _Yeah, like I'd forget almost getting crushed by a billion rocks._

"It's a dimension I found for them. Open. Flat. Calm. No living creatures around, because Lev is completely out of control when he fully transforms. So he needs to be restrained before he settles down and turns back, and Alisa's probably the only dragon alive agile enough to do that."

"And the privilege of using that place is more than I could ever ask for," Alisa added, biting her lip, "so please don't trouble—"

" _Alisa!_ " Tooru seized her by the shoulders and shook her _hard_. "Why are you acting like this?"

Iwaizumi was next to them in an instant, hand firmly gripping Tooru's arm.

"Iwa-chan, _let go,_ " Tooru gritted through his teeth. "You don't understand, this is like Bokuto going into Emo Mode when he's _not_  playing volleyball."

This made Iwaizumi hesitate. The type of feeling when Bokuto, superstar ace of the volleyball team, lost so much confidence that he would turn into Bokuto, guy who plays like he's never touched a volleyball in his life. If that happened off the court...

He shuddered. If Tooru could cheer her up, he should _definitely_ do it. 

"Still," he said, flicking Tooru's ear, "don't be an idiot. The answer's not gonna fall out if you shake her."

"Ow! Iwa-channnn," Tooru whined, but his lips curled into a grin when he felt the air around Iwaizumi change into something softer, gentler. (A moment of weakness.) He  _stomped_ on Iwaizumi's foot. With his own, clawed one.

Iwaizumi rolled up his sleeves. "All right. That's _it_ , you shitty trash dragon—"

"Stop calling me that, stupid!"

"Then stop being stupid, stupid!"

Iwaizumi rushed forward with a tackle, but Tooru sidestepped and tried to catch him around the waist instead. He dodged, jumping at the dragon now, trying to gain some leverage—

Alisa made a little hiccuping noise. 

The pair froze. Iwaizumi was on Tooru's back, using the base of the dragon's tail as a foothold and clinging onto his horns. Tooru's tail was curled to one side, the tip still poking Iwaizumi's face even though they'd both stopped dead in their tracks.

She was shaking again... from trying (and then failing) to suppress what turned into uncontrollable giggling. "Oh no, it got blurry!" she said, studying her phone. "I bet Issei would still get a kick out of it, though."

"Alisa _DON'T YOU DARE_ —"

"Oops, I was in the group chat!" she said, pretending to sound distressed for all of two seconds. "Guess the whole guard'll see this now."

Tooru heaved a long, dramatic, groaning sigh... but he bumped his horn into hers all the same. "I knew you were in there somewhere."

She grinned at him. "I can't stay upset around you two! You remind me of the times Lev and I fought like that, back when we could do it just for fun. And it's funny, because you even  _feel_ like you're siblings."

"Though," she added innocently, "I'm pretty sure siblings don't kiss each other when they think nobody's looking."

Iwaizumi flushed bright red.

Tooru pouted at her. "What do you mean, we feel like siblings? You didn't hit your head too hard, did you?"

She tapped on her chin with one finger. "I don't totally understand it either. Iwaizumi-san, what are you?"

"Uh. What?"

"You seem human, but you have dragon Spirit in you. I _know_ you're not a dragon, though. And by the way, that Portal earlier was—" Her eyes went wide and she clapped her hands over her mouth.

She turned to Tooru with a sly grin. "Oh. Ohhh. _Tooold_ you it wasn't 'just a dumb story,' _Your Highness_ ," she teased. 

Iwaizumi frowned. "Seriously, is this something I'm supposed to know?"

"I mean, you two managed to make a Portal strong enough to take in  _another_ Portal earlier. _Lev_ wouldn't be able to tear through that one." 

"Um. Thanks?" Iwaizumi ventured.

"Ahh, so this is what love is like," she said sweetly. "How beautiful, a human knight who doesn't slay dragons, but protects one instead? Not that either of you need protecting, of course."  

Iwaizumi knew, from experience, that getting multiple compliments from a dragon meant that the conversation was about to get a lot more uncomfortable.

And Alisa delivered.

"Your love is so inspiring, Iwaizumi-san, a human willing to promise eternal partnership, form the only unbreakable bond known to dragonkind. A commoner and a prince performing such a private, sacred ritual—"

Iwaizumi's legs almost gave out under him. " _Ohmygodyoucantell._ " 

"Always the romantic, Alisa," said Tooru, almost looking bashful.

Alisa grinned, full of mischief. "Actually, I just thought you were one of the Spiritless. Do humans have those? There are Chaos dragons who don't make any Spirit of their own, but unlike Harmonies, these dragons can absorb it from others... Anyway, I'm so happy you let me in our your secret!" she clapped her hands together laughed.

"I—oh my God," was all Iwaizumi could manage.

She wasn't done yet. "But this still isn't totally right. The Circle only ever completes between... Besides, how..." She beckoned him closer and lowered her voice. "Iwaizumi-san, how did you, I mean, can human teeth _actually_ , hm, how do I put this?"

"Oh, no," Tooru said. "We—"

"Do NOT finish that sentence or I swear I'll buy _every_ piece of milk bread from the three stores that have any left in stock after _you binged_ last week and stash them in Bokuto's van until he can give them away to that kids' team he started coaching  _just_ so you can't have any."

Tooru gave his boyfriend a withering look. "That's... very detailed and specific. You had that threat all ready to go beforehand, didn't you."

"'course I did. There's a list in the survival guide for dating you."

"What do you mean _survival_ —how _rude,_ Iwa-chan—I—"

"Yamaguchi's been helping me. You and Tsukishima have some creepily similar habits."

"Don't involve Freckles-kun and Kei-san in this!"

_"Ahem."_

Both of them felt like they understood Lev a little better, just then, because the only thing they could think when they saw her face was _I'm so sorry please don't hurt me._

"Sorry," they mumbled. "We'll be good now."

Tooru took Iwaizumi's hand, and their fingers intertwined. "Anyway, this proves it, right?" he asked Alisa. "You know what Iwa-chan and I can do, so let us help. If I'd known you were this upset..." Tooru sighed. "I can at _least_ set more Portals, get you anything from Dad's library... and  _no,_  don't give me any of that _royalty-shouldn't_ crap. Do I even deserve to lead the faction if I can't even help another dragon?"

Iwaizumi addressed her with a reassuring look and a steady voice. "I don't know how I'd help you, exactly. But if I  _can_ , I will. Even if it's just being a giant battery for Tooru right now." He laughed a little then, and it sounded a bit self-deprecating, but Tooru knew he was being completely serious. He hoped Alisa did too. 

She took a deep breath, and every bit of resistance flowed out of her on the exhale. "It's not some big secret, just something very, very hard to accept."

They waited patiently for her to continue.

"This song, poem, riddle... if I'm this priestess, why haven't I been able to make Lev's curse go away? What am I doing wrong?"

"Alisa—"

"Lev is everything to me. We're the last in our family, maybe even the entire bloodline. I would do anything to see him happy, to let him live his life however he wants to."

"If that curse wants a sacrifice, I've been ready and willing to spend my entire life looking for a cure the moment all of this started. I can offer every bit of energy and Spirit I have, every day I'm alive until I can make him healthy again. But that's _all_ _I can do and it's not_ enough."

Her voice cracked as she choked back the urge to cry. "So now what? When everything I've tried actually means nothing?" With these last few words, her voice dwindled down to a rasp, and then there was silence.

For once, Tooru didn't know what to say—

"It's _not_ nothing!" Iwaizumi yelled. His eyes were squeezed shut. 

The dragons jumped. The conviction in his voice, rough and forceful, broke the quiet resignation surrounding them all.

He balled one hand into a fist and held on tightly to Tooru's with the other. "What you've done. He probably doesn't have the words for it, might not until years and years later. But having family, or at least people who are dependable... Even if he thinks he's just fine now, can go on by himself—"

"—Maybe he can, I don't know. But every second he doesn't _have_  to spend alone, every moment the smallest part of him feels safe because he has someone to go to if he needs it... that means everything."

Tooru leaned over and let his head rest on Iwaizumi's shoulder, making a mental note to be extra nice to Freckles-kun when he gets back. Might even ask him if he wanted to be called Yamaguchi, instead. 

Alisa stared. She wasn't holding back those tears any more, but she also wasn't crying for herself. "The way you sounded just now. You understand because you're like us."

Iwaizumi opened his eyes all of a sudden, and he blushed. "Oh. I mean, uh. I _think_  all of that's true. I guess? But I'm not trying to pretend I know how your brother feels. And we just met, plus I'm just some guy, so it's not like—"

Alisa smiled at the laughter bubbling up inside her, at how simple it was to understand why the prince fell for this strange, gruff man. The only _creature_ known to dragonkind who would dare climb on the Prince of Chaos's back and call him a dumbass, and possibly the only human in the world who would open his heart to help a dragon. 

"Iwaizumi-san," she said, trying to sound exasperated for effect. "You're eternally linked with the most talented dragon in Faction history. You have dragon Spirit that powers travel across dimensions. Good heavens, you're _invincible._ I don't think you're just 'some guy'." 

Heat rushed into Iwaizumi's face, which didn't even have a chance to cool down from being embarrassed earlier. "'m pretty sure I'm just immortal, not invincible... Tsukishima said effects haven't been studied..." he muttered.

"My, so hard to please—" Alisa tutted, wiping the last of her tears away.  
"Iwa-chan is so picky—" Tooru pretended to complain.

" _Dragons,_ " Iwaizumi groaned.

 

* * *

 

 _Hmm. Looks like this isn't so bad after all,_ Yaku thought.

He'd assumed Lev would be too loud, too conspicious, _too goddamn annoying_ in a crowd of so many humans. But the dragon, along with Kuroo, just looked like two friends visiting the shrine and having a nice afternoon.

So Yaku wandered around feeling like a load was off his shoulders, exchanging new year's greetings with neighbors and acquaintances he happened to see and pausing here and there to make sure Lev was still in view.

Somebody bumped into him when he stood on his tiptoes to do just that.

"Morisuke!"

Yaku caught himself, turned around, and almost fell over again.

"Mom!?"

"Glad you're talking a break, dear," she said, squeezing him on the arm. "Oh, I need to run. The ladies up front need a hand. But before I forget, your father wants to see you."

Yaku gulped and watched her leave.

 

* * *

 

"Yaku-san, Yaku-san, look!"

He really wished he didn't have to turn around and look, but one can only ignore a too-loud and too-tall dragon man for so long.

"Pretty cool, right?!"

Lev had a piece of grilled squid skewered on each of his horns. He held another on a stick with his tail. Two more were in his hands, and one was sticking out of his coat pocket.

Kuroo was chewing on a bite of his own squid-on-a-stick with a grin. "The old guy grilling these had a great time putting them on his horns." He held one out to Yaku.

"Come on, we have to go back before they get cold!" Lev pleaded. He didn't bother to wait for his companions, though; the dragon charged through the crowd of stunned faces and raised cell phones back towards the sanctuary.

Yaku glowered in the same direction.  _Why are they freaking out about the squid but not the horns and tail?!_

"Yeah, he's a good kid!" said Kuroo, though Yaku didn't ask him a question. "And this dragon stuff he's telling me is pretty interesting. My linguistics professor would probably cry if Lev told him about these magic runes dragons use. Oh, listen, did you know—"

The last time Yaku saw Kuroo go on and on like  _this_ was when he became captain of their high school team. 

_He's happy._

It was written all over his face.  _Actual_ happiness, not the artificial kind he wore at the beginning of every year since they started high school.

So maybe Lev being here wasn't the worst thing in the world, if he was having this kind of effect on Kuroo. Unfortunately, he and Alisa would be going home, soon...

_Wait. Fortunately. Or. Not unfortunately. What? No, no, let's lock this train of thought down before it goes any further..._

"—kun. Yakkun."

"..."

Kuroo frowned. He deepened his voice a bit and did his best to bark out an order: "Yaku. In for Bokuto. Go!"

"Got it, Coac—huh?" Yaku replied, his brain on auto-pilot. He held his hand out for Bokuto's number before realizing he was nowhere near a volleyball court.

"Wow," said Kuroo. "Okay then. You all right? You look pretty out of it."

Yaku stared at Kuroo with a completely blank look.

"The squid's getting cold," he said to no one in particular, then headed back.

 

* * *

 

Back at the sanctuary, Yaku relaxed a little bit. The snack was good and the conversation was interesting (if not a little scary, like the part about a huge group of dragons doing human behavior and neurological experiments. _Seriously?!_ ). But it was all just stories from another dimension, like Lev and Alisa, so he wasn't too worried.

Until Tooru asked if they were going to go to school or find jobs while they were here.

_Wait, wait, wait._

"No. This is a bad idea," Yaku answered before Lev or Alisa could.

He knew he was going to get a kicked-puppy look from Lev, but from _everybody?!_

But he also knew he just had to plow through and drive his point home. They'd understand the facts. "It's not safe for you here. And I'm sorry, but obviously we can't help you with what you're looking for after all."

"There might be something else here, though!" Tooru objected. 

"Yeah," he countered. "Or there might be a real lead somewhere else, disappearing right now."

Iwaizumi leaned over to whisper in Yaku's ear. "Hey. We're really doing this because Alisa really needs to rest a little. Don't tell Lev, though."

"Can't she do that at home?" Yaku mumbled back. "I'm sure it's more comfortable there. Or, just, not stay here long enough to get _jobs!_ "

He had a whole slew of other reasons ready for Iwaizumi, but he heard ( _felt?_ ) a low rumble that made his senses yell _Stop!_ and  _Danger!_

They stared at each other for a long time. Finally, Iwaizumi shook his head and turned away. Only then did Yaku feel his bones stop rattling and those fight-or-flight instincts dissipate.

_What the hell was THAT?_

"Plus," Kuroo was saying. "I can even let you have the place to yourselves if you want. _If_  Yakkun's all right with me staying in your guest room. Like I've done a million times before. What d'you think?"

"But Yaku-san's not a big pushover like Iwa-chan!" Tooru said. Iwaizumi elbowed him.

All eyes were on Yaku, again.

 _Damn it. Like Mom or Dad or I would say no to that._  
_But why can't anyone see that it's safer and better for them to leave?_

In the end, though, seeing Lev with that excited sparkly look again was worth giving in.

_Wait._

_Almost. Almost worth it._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Depending on the culture, the amaryllis could symbolize shyness or pride. But its oldest meaning, of a certain type of love, is likely from Greek mythology: 
> 
> The maiden Amaryllis is in love with the shepherd Alteo, but the Oracle at Delphi sees that it will remain unrequited unless she can give him a flower no one has ever seen before. 
> 
> With her feelings for Alteo as motivation, Amaryllis pierces her own heart with an arrow so that such a flower may bloom from her blood.
> 
> * * *
> 
> phew. for my fellow yakulev fans: next chapter! I promise!


	3. Let me play among the stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Kuroo ships YakuLev.

It was the end of the day, but Alisa and Lev were still full of energy. As Kuroo led them to his place, they debated over which ocean they should go see while they were here and talked about all the strange things they learned and saw today. It was a nice feeling, he thought, and he honestly didn't want to interrupt just to explain apartment logistics.

But if he didn't, they were _not_  going to be happy when the bathroom doorknob fell off, or when they set off the fire alarm with just steam. Yeah, it wasn't such a great building to live in. The least he could do was to make them comfortable.

"—okay, last thing, you gotta remember this about the stove. The dials are—ah, ah, _achoo!_ " Kuroo sniffed a little. "The— _achooo!_ " His eyes were watery now.

"What's coming out of your nose?!" Lev yelled, trying to stick his finger in Kuroo's nose.

"Oh no!" Alisa gently placed a hand on Kuroo's shoulder. "You're crying! Is sneezing painful? Should we get help?"

"Cad," said Kuroo, holding a tissue to his nose with one hand and swiping the other one like a paw.

"Cat?" Lev repeated. He looked around, scratching his horn out of habit. "Oh, found one." He grabbed the tabby curled up around one of his horns by the scruff and handed it to Kuroo.

"'o, I nean I'm aller'ic oo 'ats— _achoo!_ "

"Oh dear," said Alisa. She whispered to Lev, who nodded and walked away. "We can go ahead. He'll follow from about half a block away."

It was enough to let Kuroo's reaction subside, and they made it to the apartment without incident... though Lev was still on the other side of the street, picking cats off his horns and tail. 

"Wow. You'd think Lev would notice a cat on his head."

Alisa frowned. "Ah, not really. How do I explain... I don't call him a lion just because of his name, or that song."

Kuroo narrowed his eyes at her. "So you're telling me he's _not_  a dragon. A hybrid? A lion... Li-gon? No, maybe drag-on—oh wait, that's the same word..."

"No! It's more like... We don't really know why, but sometimes he turns into some sort of cat... magnet?"

Kuroo burst into laughter. "That is the _most_ ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

Alisa handed him her phone. There was a picture of a silver dragon lying flat on the ground, asleep judging from his eyes and by the stream of drool that formed a puddle under his chin.

"You might have to zoom in a little," she added.

A black cat was putting its paw in the dragon drool. A few smaller ones seemed to be climbing up and down his horns, and three or four orange tabbies (a litter?) were tucked under the webbing of one folded wing, with their heads sticking out. 

Tabbies with black markings? 

"Oh my God," said Kuroo. "Is that a litter of tigers. And looking at relative sizes..." he murmured to himself. "A _panther_ is playing with his drool."

"Aren't they so cute?" Alisa took her phone back and swiped through a few more pictures. Lev with some kind of tree in his mouth and cats on his back. Lev headed into a cave and cats on his back. Lev curled up next to some giant cat-like creature that had fangs the size of his head.

Kuroo shuddered. With Tooru and that other dragon Bokuto liked to arm-wrestle with around, it was easy to forget that dragons don't usually live in city apartment buildings and _do_ encounter probably-deadly fanged creatures on a regular basis. 

"Good thing it's just housecats and strays around here, huh—wait a sec. Do you guys know what you're doing tomorrow?"

Alisa shrugged. "I was going to let Lev pick, since I got to choose whether or not we came to the shrine."

"Cool, cool. And are you okay with Lev's big giant crush on Yakkun?"

"You know, I'm not his mother," she pouted.

"Right," Kuroo laughed, a little embarrassed. "Sorry."

"Although I do need to stay near him to make sure he doesn't, you know  _ohh,_ I _am_  his mother, aren't I?" she groaned.

"Nah, you're just a really good sister..."

Alisa didn't miss the brief moment where Kuroo's expression twisted into something much, much darker. And then it vanished without a trace.

He was grinning, now, and it was like the last second or two never happened. "Well, I thought that might be the case, so the plan'll happen at my place. Can I grab his number from you? I don't think I can go ask him right now."

"Sure. But Kuroo-san."

"Mmhmm." He was typing into his phone.

"You know you don't have to do things like this for Lev. For us."

His thumb stopped moving, but his head was still lowered.

"Don't worry about it. I'm actually a very selfish man," he said to his phone.

Alisa was startled by that answer. Something was eating at this man's heart from the inside, she was sure of it.

"Kuroo—"

"So! Here are the keys." He handed them to her with a bright grin. "And drop the -san. Please. I know it's not polite to ask a lady her age, but I'm sure you've got a century or two on me, at least."

A wink, a wave of the hand, and he was already walking away.

 

* * *

 

The next morning.

"But Kuroo-saaaan, he didn't like this very much yesterday."

"Oh ho ho, this is a completely different game. You're about to make his hopes and dreams come true, my friend."

Kuroo stood back and admired his handiwork. He was glad he came over early; there were a lot of options to choose from. "Dinner's on me all week if it doesn't work."

Lev grinned from ear to ear.

 

* * *

 

As Yaku left for Kuroo's place, he realized that the talk with his dad he'd been dreading all last night wasn't so bad. Yeah, it was about missing a week of school for a big tournament, and he really did _not_  like these talks that all came down to "You're playing too much volleyball." But it would be over quickly; he'd actually prepared for this particular conversation several days ago.

"History paper, done. English paper, done. Permission slip for taking a make-up chemistry exam." He laid the items out in front of his dad.

It worked, of course, like always. His dad knew good sense and reason when he saw it.

So all in all, a good start to the day. Until Kuroo opened the door for him.

"I'm leaving," said Yaku, because he did _not_  want to do anything that involved Kuroo wearing a respirator.

But a single sound kept his feet firmly rooted to the ground: "Meow."

"Kuroo, if you're doing a cat impression, it's not funny and you know it," he complained. But Kuroo was still wearing that respirator, and the meow didn't sound muffled at all.

And then he heard the sound that sealed the deal. 

"Kuroo," he said carefully, cautiously. "Is that a cat _purring_?"

It obviously was, except Yaku had never been close enough to a cat to actually hear purring in real life. He took a couple of big breaths to calm himself down, but his hands were still trembling. There were two absolute truths that have haunted him all his life, kept him from pure happiness and joy.

1\. He really, really LOVES cats.  
2\. For reasons the world will never understand, cats scatter like cockroaches in daylight when they see him.

Kuroo was one of the smartest people Yaku knew. With his love for science, face mask, and _that bedhead_ , he could very well be a mad scientist who came up with a way to cross out number two. To  _make_ cats love him back. 

Impossible? Yeah. And Yaku was practical, logical. 

_But CATS._

He inspected Kuroo's clothes for chemical stains or anything else that would support the mad scientist theory.

"Kuroo-san, is Yaku-san here? They're antsy all of a sudden," someone called from inside.

"Yeah! Contestant number one, come on down!" Kuroo hummed a chipper, game show melody that made Yaku roll his eyes.

Maybe there was no cat, after all. "Kuroo, what is—"

"Yaku-san!" Lev called.

Yaku gasped, _gasped_ like a crappy soap opera character and gave himself a coughing fit. His brain _almost_  registered " _daaamn he looks good in sweatpants_ " before it completely short-circuited.

Lev stood in the doorway, wearing a white t-shirt and Kuroo's old sweatpants from high school. (Just _that_ stirred up some interesting feelings for Yaku.) But then there was the Miracle: a gray cat was using one of Lev's horns as a scratching post. A black kitten was perched on his shoulder, and he was cradling a fat, brown tabby in his arms.

They were  _not_ running away.

_What how oh my god oh my god oh my god_

 

* * *

 

Lev tried to start a conversation a few times, but Yaku was just making a sound that was sort of like _wuhhhhh—_.

"Kuroo-san, we broke him." Lev looked completely defeated.

Kuroo shook his head no and gave him a thumbs up.

Lev knew Kuroo's advice wouldn't fail him, though that was only if Yaku could still understand human language. "Um. I was worried you were mad at me yesterday so Kuroo-san said this would help! Do you wanna hold one? I'm used to being way bigger than cats so these feel kinda heavy for being so little. Hey, that's kinda like—"

Kuroo banged on the wall to get Lev's attention. He crossed his forearms in an "x".

"Ohhh," said Lev. "I mean, do you wanna hold one? I don't think I can keep holding all three of them when I'm in this form."

Yaku finally went quiet. He nodded furiously.

"Do... you wanna pick one?" Lev prompted. He panicked when thought he saw Yaku maybe starting to cry a little ( _??_ ) but Kuroo gave him _two_ thumbs up, now.

Yaku pointed with a shaky finger.

"Oh! He's really nice. You'll like him," said Lev, placing the black kitten in Yaku's arms.

Kuroo told him to never, ever say or suggest that anything Yaku says or does is cute, and that was probably good advice too. But it was really, really hard when Yaku was saying things like "you'resosoftIloveyou" or holding his fingers out to see which one the kitten wanted to bite the most.

"Um, Ya-...ku-...san." Lev didn't want to ruin this adorable preciousness in front of him. "Do you... wanna come inside at least?"

Yaku looked _terrified_. "Will he run away if I move?"

"N—uhh, I mean, here." Lev reached for the kitten, meaning to move it inside himself to be on the safe side. But Yaku _whimpered_  and curled his arms tightly around the kitten.

"Ooo-kay, um," Lev hesitated. He took very, very small steps backwards, coaxing Yaku into the apartment with him.

"I'msohappythankyou," Yaku said to the kitten, but Lev hoped maybe a little part of that was meant for him, too.

 

* * *

 

"But," Lev said, trying to make Yaku see reason. "This is Kuroo-san's place and I don't know if we should let more cats—"

" _Open. The. Window. Lev._ " Yaku hissed. Quiet but terrifying and demanding. It reminded him of Alisa.

And that's how Yaku ended up sitting on the couch, completely blissed out with a cat in his lap, one on his head, two at his feet, two curled up together next to him on the couch, and one who seemed to be on patrol as it paced back and forth.

Not laughing right now was _torture_. Lev compromised and snickered behind a few fake coughs. "Yaku-san, are you okay over there?"

Yaku didn't bother opening his eyes. "Not okay. Perfect. Other than the fact that I'm dead, I guess."

"Huh?"

"This is heaven, where you and Alisa are angels who came and brought me cats."

Lev covered his face with one hand. Yaku-san, the really cool human who saved Alisa and made sure he didn't eat the stick his squid came on and worried about them being safe in this dimension, just... said something that really sounded like a bad pickup line.

But wait. If Yaku was _this_ far gone, maybe he could test his luck.

 _Look around you. Use the situation to your advantage,_  Alisa always said.

"Yaku-san, dead people don't really get embarrassed, right?"

Yaku barely opened one eye to sort-of-not-really look at Lev. "I guess."

"So um, can I take a picture?"

"Oh. That's what you want?" He closed his eyes again. "Yeah, yeah, go for it."

It was double or nothing, now. "More than one picture?"

"Mm, just don't move the cats."

After using up almost all of his phone storage (he would carefully go through them, later, to pick the best ones and make room for more to come), Lev spent the rest of the morning thinking about who could help him find a really, really good present for Kuroo.

 

* * *

 

They were sitting on a bench in the park across the street. Yaku needed the cold, night air to clear his mind a little bit.

But there was a more pressing issue. "DELETE them."

"I did! More than half!" Lev was distracted, trying to find the right one to set as his background.

"That's not what I mean."

"But you said I could take pictures! Plural!"

"..."

"Yaku-san?"

"..."

"Are you mad?"

"No. I, um."

Lev could _hear_  his own heartbeat, waiting for Yaku to continue. So unfamiliar, so fast, not at all like a dragon's. He looked up at the sky. That darkness, with a few brilliant points of light shining through, always made him feel a little more calm.

Yaku picked at one of the callouses on his hand. "I was really happy today."

_Ahh what did he just say say it again please say it again—_

"— _am_  really happy. So thank you. For doing that."

Lev wanted to hug him. Or maybe release and fly around for a bit. Jump in a lake.

He spent a lot of time trying to make Alisa smile; she was always searching, always pushing too hard. Doing it made him happy too.

With Yaku, it was on an entirely different level. And with that, he knew it wasn't _just_ Alisa in his life any more. And he didn't  _just_ want to be the strongest dragon who saved the world, now. There were all these overwhelming feelings and more, more,  _more._

He hugged a cat to his chestand thought about tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "So can I keep the pictures?"
> 
> "... One."
> 
> "Five?"
> 
> " _One._ Final answer."
> 
> "'kay..."
> 
> "... Lev."
> 
> "Yeah?"
> 
> "... do you seriously want a bunch of pictures of me in your phone?"
> 
> "Yes!!"
> 
> "Then. You. Um. You should do whatever you want."
> 
> "Wait, do you mean—"
> 
> "Just, ugh. Don't show other people!"
> 
> A gasp, a "Yaku-san's the best!", and a _whump_.
> 
> " _Ooof._ Get _off_ me you over-caffeinated giraffe—"
> 
> "Ow ow ow ow sorry!"
> 
> "And hand me that cat already!"


	4. Fly me to the moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I used to be afraid of the dark. I thought it would eat me up every time I closed my eyes. But one day, I thought, 'isn't that what nighttime is?' A dark sky that ate up the world... but we're all fine. Maybe it's keeping us safe."

 

**Yaku Morisuke:**  But he keeps showing up

**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  Oh is he breaking stuff or smth

**Yaku Morisuke:**  No  
**Yaku Morisuke:**  He brought pie today

**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  Was it good?

**Yaku Morisuke:**  NOT the point  
**Yaku Morisuke:**  I just  
**Yaku Morisuke:**  don't get why he does this

**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  Did you ask him to stop

**Yaku Morisuke:**  No

**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  Ok  
**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  I guess I wouldn't if he's bringing me pie  
**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  Whats the problem

**Yaku Morisuke:**  he's lev!!!

**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  What does that mean tho  
**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  ???  
**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  Do you even know  
**Kuroo Tetsurou:**  Is there any pie left

**Yaku Morisuke:**  Gdi  
**Yaku Morisuke:**  STOP ASKING DUMB QUESTIONS  
**Yaku Morisuke:**  Yeah saved you a piece its in the fridge

 

* * *

 

In a way, Lev was the most straightforward person in the world. He had no filter and said whatever he thought, asked whatever he wanted to ask without reading the situation at all. He blundered through everything with a smile and with no reservation. But Lev... was a stranger. Another species. A giant, dragon-shaped mystery.

Yaku really didn't like not knowing things. The only sensible way to deal with this was to investigate every detail of Lev's life.

This investigation revealed many things that needed fixing. Simple things. Problems that could be solved with a reminder text or a few well-aimed kicks.

But there were  _so many_  of them, and Lev was  _such_  a slow learner. So it didn't take very long for this routine to develop:

On Monday mornings, he stood outside Kuroo's apartment and yelled into his phone about being  _responsible_  and  _not lazy_  until Lev got out of bed and let him in. They would eat the breakfast sandwiches Yaku brought and put the one for Alisa in the fridge.

Wednesdays were the worst; he barely had any time to deal with Lev. Lectures all morning, only 15 minutes for lunch, then a class he didn't care about (French), and a lab for his least favorite class (physics). Oh, and practice.

Wednesday  _nights_  weren't bad, though, ever since Kuroo and Lev declared it was burger(-induced food coma -> early bedtime) night. They kept saying it had nothing to do with that one time they found Yaku asleep in the locker room at 11pm on a Wednesday.

Saturday mornings were for (teaching Lev how to do) laundry, tidying up, and Lev's stories about the dragon dimension. They added snacks and coffee to the mix now that there were a bunch more dimensions he could talk about (thanks to Tooru's portals). Yaku didn't really mind staying longer—he was helping with something that Alisa couldn't. Plus, the stories were pretty cool.

Then errands in the afternoon, like maybe finding a horn-friendly hat for Lev so that he'd stop getting all those cat scratches on the top of his head.

Sundays were for cats. Nothing else.

There were other important facts, too. Lev was tall, with straight silver hair and horns to match; too-long arms that seemed to find their way around Yaku's shoulders a lot, lately. Those arms and  _those legs_ and a smile that never seemed to go away.

He was Alisa's little brother, of course, but he said he liked thinking he was Kuroo's, too. (Yaku was pretty sure the feeling was mutual.) He thought Tooru was weird, but he  _reeeally_  wanted to learn how to make Portals so he tried really hard not to comment on how funny air dragons looked.

Fire dragons looked totally different, at least according to those paintings in the hall. And according to Kuroo, who kept mentioning some secret pictures of Lev sleeping  _with tiger cubs_.

(Yaku had at least worked out the fact that the pictures were on Alisa's phone. There was no way he'd ever ask Alisa to see them, since she'd tell Lev and all hell would break loose. But he could ask Iwaizumi, since he was probably curious, too.  _Lev with baby tigers_. Who  _wouldn't_  want to see that?)

It reminded him of the fact was that a pair of old screens and Kuroo knew more about Lev as he did.

He really,  _really_  didn't like not knowing things.

Facts were always helpful, right? He researched, but books and websites didn't tell him anything useful. Most of them were wrong, actually.  _Dragons are raging monsters that knights in shining armor hunt and kill. Dragons are ancient paintings in shrines and villains in old folk tales._

It was like adding insult to injury.

So he was  _so_  ready to see the dragons firsthand. But he had no idea it would be like  _this_.

 

* * *

 

They were in a meadow under bright sunlight, sitting on lush green grass that covered every bit of ground from here to someplace beyond the horizon. It was the first week of February, and there was a warm early-summer breeze. 

Two long, silver, serpentine dragons had snapped their bodies ramrod-straight into something like massive steel spears. They streaked through the cloudless sky towards their target: a third dragon with white scales and a mint-green stripe down its back.

They missed. And missed again. It looked like they were going for a third shot, but instead one of the silver dragons roared and wild flames  _exploded_  from its mouth. The other whipped its tail into the blaze and sent an unstable but  _fast_  ball of fire towards the white dragon. Then another, and  _another_ , more, and more, until fireballs blasted through the air like a mad swarm of giant insects.

A waterfall gushed from somewhere above them and  _crashed_  into the ground in front of the white dragon.

Yaku didn't even know his mouth was hanging open when he clamped his jaw shut. At least he remembered to start breathing again after seeing that barrage of fire. ( _It's fine, they're dragons, it's fine, they know what they're doing._ )

Right now, though, he had no words, no thoughts, could only clutch at the blanket he and Kuroo were sitting on as they watched their friends spar in midair.

Kuroo, too, looked impressed and amazed and a little proud ( _??_ ) "Too bad we can't tell those two apart," he said.

_Lev has longer arms. And red claws._

_But he should stop. He'll wear himself out. One of them needs to stop him._

_... but I don't want to stop watching._

Kuroo was staring up at the sky, still, now with a soft smile. "They're really beautiful, aren't they."

Yaku's mouth was dry.  _That's not the right word_ , he wanted to tell Kuroo.  _Put that modern lit knowledge to use and come up with a better one!_

But the end, Yaku only had one thing to say.

"Y-yeah. He really is."

 

* * *

 

"I seem to remember  _somebody_  saying they wouldn't use water. Who could that be..." Alisa squinted at Tooru and snatched the pitcher of iced tea right out of his (human) hands.

Tooru pouted. "It was Iwa-chan's fault!"

Iwaizumi looked wind-blown and  _exhausted_ , but evidently he still had some fight left in him. "You know you can't just blame your bad decisions on me, right? Such a crappy personality. You wrote the damn thing and you got my phone wet."

"Hey! I don't have a crappy—"

"Okay, shitty."

"No! That's worse!"

Yaku was staring at Lev, Lev who just fought a losing battle for a half hour or more. He was smiling at his sister and laughing at Iwaizumi and Tooru, eating too many pickles and drinking all the iced tea with a not-so-guilty grin. Everything was just fine.

That was the moment when Yaku realized he wouldn't be able to handle seeing Lev any other way.

"Don't tell me you're going back out there when this is all you're eating," he said, shoving a full bowl of rice into Lev's hand and trying very hard to shove that thought out of his head. 

"Don'hat's safe," Iwaizumi said.

Yaku blinked. He'd been holding the plate of stir-fry for who-knows-how-long.

"Just green peppers and beef, there's no dragon in it. Just—" Iwaizumi yawned, "—watch for green meat."

" _Iwa-channn_ ," Tooru whined. "You *know* I'm not doing that any more."

" _Good God_  do I want to know—" Yaku was proud of himself for not just throwing the plate somewhere.  
"Should I even ask—" said Kuroo, at the same time.

"It's rather private," Alisa explained. "They're just very open about their relationship."

Yaku stuck with rice and miso soup for the rest of lunch.

 

* * *

 

Lev scratched his chin. "If I'm gonna become the strongest dragon, do I need to get a human too? Is there a specific kind?"

Yaku choked on a piece of tofu.

"For the  _last time_ ," Iwaizumi insisted, "I'm not some kind of accessory."

Tooru whispered in Alisa's ear. She giggled a bit, then said, "You did call yourself a battery, Iwaizumi-san."

Iwaizumi glared at Tooru and looked around for something to hit him with.

"Alisa said it! Not meee~" Tooru crooned, resting his head on Alisa's shoulder.

"Can someone explain why the hell Iwaizumi has magic dragon battery powers?" Yaku asked.

"Goddamn it I'm not—" But Iwaizumi cut himself short and hid his face with his hands. "Fine, whatever," he grumbled.

Alisa turned to Yaku with a serious expression. "Well, I had no idea it could work with a dragon and human, but there's a very sacred act between—"

" _Whooooa_  there," Kuroo cut in. "Is the rating gonna go up now? Because I need to prepare myself for that."

Yaku flushed bright red. "Oh. Okay, yeah, what happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom, right?"

They heard a muffled "OHMYGODSTOP" and stared at Iwaizumi.

"I took  _one bite_  of his goddamn tail, okay? One. Once. One time."

Kuroo grabbed a cookie and sat back. "Or feel free to share, that's cool too."

"Wh—no—I—"

"Okay, okay," Alisa laughed. "I think we've tortured Iwazumi-san enough."

"Iunno," said Tooru, who had been enjoying his beer as he watched the scene. "That depends on your definition of 'enough'."

"You idiot stupid dumbass dragon—"

"Iwa-chan! You're gonna knock the food over!"

"No I'm n—"

" _E-nough_." Alisa hissed. Her fingers morphed into claws. Tooru and Iwaizumi shut their mouths and folded their hands in their laps.

"Now, Yaku-san. Kuroo-san. One of our oldest legends is a prophecy, one claiming that two dragons are destined to forge a path to peace for the world."

(Yaku was a little tired of prophecies, now, but really he was just glad he got the sweet-first-grade-teacher version of Alisa and not the murder-claws one.)

"The Infinite Circle," Alisa said. "When these two dragons become one, it is said that they will share Spirit, emotions, and the blessing of immortality to guarantee their success. But completing the Circle means that a dragon has to show its back to another—expose the weakness we all share. And offer part of its tail as proof.

"But," Lev looked thoughtful. "Iwaizumi-san didn't really have any power to begin with—"

Yaku nodded in agreement. "So really he's sharing—"

They heard two dull  _thuds_  behind Tooru right before he crushed the beer bottle in his hand. Powdered glass fell like sand.

Kuroo glared at Yaku and clamped a hand on Lev's arm. "Let's ask them later, okay?" He whispered to the dragon. "Now's not so good."

Tooru's hand was shaking. His eyes were wide as he watched Iwaizumi pull out the shards of glass from his hand.

Iwaizumi leaned in until their foreheads touched. "Worry about yourself first, idiot." 

(Yaku turned away. He wasn't supposed to see this, actually wanted to apologize to them later for reasons he didn't even know.  _This happened at the shrine too, didn't it?_ )

"Do you trust me?" Iwaizumi asked.

"Since the day we met so  _stop_. You look like crap. Shit, actually."

"I know, I love you too."

There was a beat of silence before someone started gasping for air.

"Ha-, Iwa-chan, everyone's watching!"

"Tooru. You won't have to wait that much longer. So come on."

Yaku counted to five before he dared to turn around. By then, Iwaizumi and Tooru were already headed for the training area... side by side, hand in hand.

 

* * *

 

The dragons trained on the ground this time. Yaku snorted when Lev coughed and gagged like a cat trying to hack up a hairball.

A little puff of smoke came out. The dragon smiled.

"It's getting better!" Alisa said.

"Are you  _serious_." Tooru covered his face with one wing. "This is what we're working with? I thought you guys were born with this!"

A little bit of steam came out of Alisa's nostrils. "Well, he  _is_ technically breathing fire. It's just, none of it is coming out."

"Yaku-sannn!" Lev called, completely ignoring the conversation that was completely about him. "Um, uh, I, I think you're really short!"

Yaku twitched.

"And tiny and cute!"

_Do not get mad at the giant dragon. Do not get mad at the giant dragon._

"So whenever you want, I can pick you up and—"

"That's IT." Yaku stomped over to Lev and kicked the dragon's leg. "You got a problem with my  _normal_  height, you noodle-armed jerk? Come on. Maybe you need some glasses. Or worry about how much you suck, first. What  _was_  that, anyway? You gonna fight other dragons with that? By making them laugh?"

He stopped when he felt a chill run down his spine. Lev's head and part of his neck had turned pure white. A patch of darkness formed on his snout and crept back to cover his face, then his entire head, and finally onto his neck. It stopped, then, ending in a neat line around the perimeter.

"Shit! Alisa!" Tooru said through gritted teeth, charging at him.

"Wait!" Yaku found himself yelling. "It's not—"

Lev opened his mouth and roared.

For a moment, Yaku's vision blanked. There was nothing but  _heat_.

Alisa and Tooru tackled Lev. He made a choking sound, and the darkness disappeared.

There was a trail of charred ground, dotted with clumps of lava, that ran from the three-dragon pile-up to somewhere beyond where the eye could see.

Kuroo was already next to Yaku, making sure he was okay. He stared at the dragons. "You saw it stop, right?"

Yaku nodded.

He realized he liked the smell of burnt grass.

 

* * *

 

The sun was already setting when they came back to the human dimension.

"Yaku-san! You know I didn't mean all that stuff, right? Well, maybe a little, but—"

Lev grunted when Kuroo elbowed him in the stomach.

"What'redoingtomorrow," Yaku mumbled.

"What?" Lev leaned down to listen more closely... and Kuroo promptly pulled him back up.

"Tomorrow. Kuroo and I have practice. You should come, or whatever."

"Oyaoyaoya?" Kuroo looked like he just got a birthday present.

Yaku glared at him and rushed out of sight.

 

* * *

 

The next morning.

There were only a few people, at first.

But more and more came and joined until there was a legitimate  _crowd_  behind Kuroo, Lev, Alisa, Iwaizumi, and Tooru as they made their way to the gym.

There was a tangled mess of conversations behind them.

"Aww, is that's his girlfriend?"  
"Seriously? I really don't have a chance, now."  
"It's that really hot guy in my history lecture! With the horns."  
"Do you think it's natural? Should I ask them?"  
"Oh my God, his hair is so pretty. I really wanna touch it—" (a bunch of giggling) "—is that weird?"

"Wow. It's not that annoying when it's just for Tooru, but this is ridiculous," said Iwaizumi.

Kuroo laughed. "Well, good. Because it's gonna make things just a little more interesting."

 

* * *

 

"Is he here," was the first thing out of Yaku's mouth when Kuroo got to the court. He mentally kicked himself.

"Yeah," Kuroo pointed towards the stands. "He's the clump of fans on the left, Alisa on the right."

Yaku wondered how his blood could run hot and cold at the same time.

"That stupid—doesn't he know—disrupting practice—"

"We don't need the libero for this drill."

Yaku nodded at Kuroo and ran off.

"Sorry. Excuse me. Ugh. Sorry." Yaku tried his best to move quickly, but there were too many people swarmed around Lev, asking for selfies and to touch his hair.

"Yaku-san!" Lev waved with way too much enthusiasm this early in the morning.

_Everybody_ stared at Yaku.

He wanted to yell at all of them, maybe even kick a few of the grabby ones. But this wasn't the team. He could hold back, take care of it without making a big deal out of things. The best solution, then, was to grab Lev's hand and  _pull_.

There was a lot of squealing and complaining and more pictures, but he didn't hear any of it, didn't even hear Lev say "Yaku-san, I think they're gone now."

They were on the court in no time. Kuroo stared at them, eyes dropping to their linked hands and then to Yaku's face.

"He's watching from here," Yaku said. There was a pause, and then he was shaking Lev's hand off his own.

"Cool. Watch for stray shots, okay?" Kuroo ruffled Lev's hair and joined one of the warmup groups.

 

* * *

 

"All right, good work today! Anyone who wants to keep going can stay 'til the end of practice, but you're all free to go."

"Thanks, Captain!" everyone replied in chorus.

Kuroo watched as most of the players left the gym.

"So who're the volleyball idiots who don't know when to stop?" he grinned. 

Bokuto: "YEAH!"  
Akaashi: "Present."  
Konoha: "Can someone help me with my straights?"  
Yaku: "Damn it, Kuroo,  _can we start already?_ "

Kuroo flapped a hand at him. "Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on. Lev! You're up!"

"What?!" Yaku squawked.

"Hey hey hey! It's a newbie! Nice horns, guy." Bokuto gave Lev a light punch on the shoulder.

"Are you a dragon?" Lev asked, looking back and forth between Bokuto's eyes and hair.

Bokuto shrugged. "Nah, just a human. Hey, my neighbor said he thought I was a dragon too!"

_Who the hell is Bokuto's neighbor?_  Yaku wondered. But there were more important matters at hand.

"NO." he said.

" _Pleeeease, Yaku-san?_ " Lev was twitching with excitement.

"Aw, come on, Yakkun. It'll be cool!" Kuroo added.

No one was expecting Akaashi to speak up.

"Yaku-san." He gave the libero a polite nod. "Thank you very much for bringing someone for us today."

"Lev? Noo, I—"

"After you  _broke our blocking board_  two weeks ago,  _again_ , I was worried our practices wouldn't be as effective."

Kuroo snorted.

"And uh, to be honest, that thing's more duct tape than wood now," said Konoha (who always ended up being the one fixing the thing whenever  ~~Yaku broke it~~  it broke).

Bokuto was already positioning Lev at the net, asking him to stand still, making sure he knew spikers would be hitting balls at him, and "oh wait would it hurt if it hit your horns? Yours are cool too! Like a deer!"

"Yakkun."

"You!" Yaku seethed, poking Kuroo in the chest with a finger. "What are you thinking,  _Captain?!_  Putting him up against Bokuto and Konoha? He's gonna, um... I mean, uh..." He only just managed to stop talking before he said something totally unreasonable, something stupid.

"Dude, if you're gonna throw a fit," Kuroo snickered, "at least make it last more than three seconds."

"Shut up. He's gonna suck! And it'll mess everyone up!"

"He's gonna stand by the net and hold his arms in the air. The end. Have a little more faith in Lev!" Kuroo looked around then, making sure it was safe before he whispered to Yaku, "Even if it's Bo, he's not gonna get hurt, all right?"

"Wh-I-wh-I-didn't—" Yaku spluttered.

Kuroo flashed him a wide grin. "Just kidding. I'll be blocking. And making you wish I wasn't."

" _Tch_. Bring it."

They bumped fists and began.

This group had practiced together so many times that things easily got intense  _fast_. Exactly what Kuroo wanted.

"Watch him," he mouthed to Lev.

 

* * *

 

Kuroo's blocks were particularly nasty, today. But to Yaku, the captain was just like any other blocker—an opportunity to pick up a receive and get the team out of trouble.

He took a peek at the bench.

_That stupid smile is so... ugh. Whatever._

He felt a rush of adrenaline, a burst of energy too intense for a simple practice. It was like playing in the championship match or trying to defeat their biggest rival. Observing, predicting, adjusting. Side steps and dives. Right now? All of it as easy as breathing.

_Watch. You'd better be watching._

He only faltered when the ball took a totally unexpected course. He knew how Kuroo blocked like the back of his hand, was his reaction time slowing, how—

He missed for the first time today.

At the net, Lev's eyes glinted like steel.

Yaku knew a challenge when he saw one.

" _Fine_ ," he smirked. "You. Me. Let's go."

 

* * *

 

Akaashi gave Konoha a high-five as he jogged off the court. "Thanks. Just a quick break."

Kuroo handed him a bottle of water.

"Your friend is good for a beginner, Captain," Akaashi commented.

"I know, right? It's not just his height. His reflexes are great, too. And I heard he does a good job keeping up with Yaku when they run together, so stamina is probably pretty good, and—okay, I know this is weird, but I think his horns could really be a good distraction. He can wiggle them around and stuff."

Akaashi hummed.

"What?" Kuroo frowned.

"Nothing. Just trying to decide if you sound like a used car salesman or someone's dad."

"Psh, whaaat?" Kuroo scoffed. "He's just a good kid. And he's been through a lot of... personal stuff. So a new hobby would be cool! Otherwise he'd be stuck in my apartment all the time."

"He's staying with you?" Akaashi asked.

"Nah, he has this older sister so the two of them are at my place. I'm at Yaku's parents' house."

The setter studied him carefully. "... You're a very kind and considerate person, Captain."

"Hah! I'm a dime a dozen. But thanks. That's a pretty big compliment, coming from an expert of caring for someone else."

Akaashi's cheeks colored. It was a rare sight, Kuroo knew.

"If I'm an expert, it's only because we've been together since we were kids. In one way or another... Kuroo-senpai, are you okay?"

"Oh. God. Yeah." Kuroo ran his hand through his hair. "Sorry."

Akaashi raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously!" Kuroo laughed. "Save that concern for Bo."

"Hm. Speaking of Bokuto-san... I think Konoha's taken enough abuse for the day. I should take over."

Kuroo gave him a thumbs up.

"Oh, Captain." Akaashi turned back for just a moment. "It'd be good if one other person stayed next time. 3-on-3s seem to be good for taking Bokuto-san's mind off things."

Kuroo covered his eyes and shook his head, exasperated but smiling anyway. "What did I  _just_  say?"

"I know. Like you said, I'm worrying about Bokuto-san." Akaashi gave him a quick nod and went back on the court.

 

* * *

 

"Yaku-san! Yaku-san!" Lev came running at him right after practice ended.

He'd prepared for this. The space Lev kept leaving between his arms were the biggest issue, and if there was time then Lev needed to understand how important it was to watch the ball at all times.

"Can I show you something? Well, it's a place," Lev asked.

_Huh?_

"Lev... what are you up to?"

"It's not far. Buuuut we'd have to fly."

_Did he just say fly?!_

"So let's go, then," Yaku said, grabbing Lev's wrist and towing him along in a quick trot. "We need to find you a spot to do your dragon thing, right?"

(Lev grinned. Today was  _awesome._ )

 

* * *

 

He should've know Lev would fly like... well, Lev. His path was haphazard and winding and involved some probably-unnecessary dives that rated pretty high on the life-threatening scale.

It was amazing. And ended too soon. They were probably still in the city, but they were up  _high._

"Hrrgg," Lev grumbled. He'd let Yaku slide off one wing onto a large, flat rock but was having trouble getting there himself.

"Yaku-san, did I do it?"

Yaku pressed his lips into a thin line. "No, not quite." It was really, really hard not to laugh when Lev had a human-sized dragon head on a human body. And one wing on his back.

"Now?"

"Almost. Your face is good, but you've still got a wing. And your legs went dragon."

"Okay,  _this_  is good, right?"

"No, that wing—"

Lev crouched on the ground. Yaku almost didn't see it—they only had moonlight—but that one wing was darker than the night around them.

Yaku's mind started racing.  _Alisa's not here. Shit. We didn't even tell her—can she find him if I call her?_

The darkness crept onto Lev's back.

_Wait a minute._

"Lev. Hey."

No response. He didn't look up, either.

Yaku took a breath, then approached him slowly, carefully. "Can you try doing what you did yesterday?  _Not_  the lava thing, I don't wanna die. Whatever you did to stop this from going past your neck."

His wing twitched.

"Come on. You can do this one thing, right? If you do it, I'll  _maybe_  think about not making fun of you for your little puff snort thing."

_What am I doing what am I doing what—_

The wing was still black, but that was it. Nothing else.

"Lev?"

The dragon fell onto his hands and knees. Yaku winced at the sight of wrist against hard stone. He didn't hesitate to move this time, found himself already next to Lev and trying to ease him into sitting up.

Lev's arms gave out and he collapsed onto his side. Yaku breathed a sigh of relief when he saw he'd cushioned Lev's head in time. But Lev still wasn't opening his eyes.

Yaku grabbed him and hefted his upper body onto his lap.

It was like everything was  _soft_  about him, right now. His hair, as Yaku had expected. His horns  _definitely_  felt fuzzy. His skin, which Yaku was already  _very_  acutely aware of. And his features, usually all sharp angles and harsh edges; eyes, always intense—all of that now soft and calm in the moonless night.

Yaku had always thought Lev was cute, like okay-I'd-make-out-with-him-at-a-party-after-a-drink-or-two cute. But him, like this... his heart ached.

And  _hurt_.

_God, what the hell—_

The world turned white.

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

_He sits cross-legged in a world of pure, white nothingness. Empty except for himself, and the black dragon curled up next to him with its head in his lap. (_ His _head, not it. And not black. Of course not.)_

_Even when the world's vanished—here they are, together. The only right thing about this wrong place._

_He scratches lightly at the side of Lev's chin (shoot, his left, not mine) and whispers._

_"Don't listen to them. You're you, not some painting on some chunk of wood. And we're us, right? I'll be with you in every universe. I'll catch you if you fall. Just... let me._ Goddamnit, I only want you. _So please,_ Lyovochka _, please wake up."_

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Yaku gasped for breath, hands flying to his own neck. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust back to the dark.

_What..._

Lev was still on his side, unconscious, although now his tail was wrapped around his legs and his one wing around his body.

Yaku stared.

"His left, not mine," he whispered, and ran a finger along that side of Lev's chin.

"Hrmmg."

"Lev?"

Nothing.

Yaku did it differently this time, scratched the way Lev showed him with that orange tabby last week.

His tail uncurled and he opened his eyes.

"Ya-Yaku-san? ... why are you crying  _no no no what did I do_ —"

"Shut up, are you blind? I'm not—shit." Yaku hadn't cried in years. But cold tears were running down his cheeks and he didn't understand why. 

"—Shit." He wiped his tears away with one arm. "Get up already. Let me touch your wing for a sec?"

The dragon flinched. "It's still..."

"That's the point." Yaku snapped. "Can I?"

Lev frowned a bit, but he still turned and held out his wing.

Warm, a little bit springy like gelatin, and always that blood red.

"Does it hurt?" Yaku asked softly. "To control it."

"A little, when I'm Compressed. Human," he added, when he saw Yaku's blank stare.

"Oh. Then do you wanna—"

But Lev was already wingless and all human-looking again. He drew his legs toward his chest and let his forehead rest on his knees.

"Hey." Yaku nudged one of Lev's shins with his foot. "Why'd you get so worked up?"

"I," Lev said in a tiny, muffled voice. "I really thought I could get it right this time."

Yaku snorted. "You look like an idiot no matter what. Can't transform your way out of that."

Lev's shoulders shook a little, but he didn't raise his head.

Yaku looked around, then. "Where are we, anyway? What are you showing me?"

It seemed like Lev wasn't about to answer any time soon. So Yaku took a deep breath and looked down. He didn't get the vertigo he was expecting for being  _this_  high up; everything looked so tiny... but there was a very familiar shape right below, like the diagram on the back of every pamphlet and postcard he'd ever handed out.

"We're at home!" he said happily.

Lev laughed for real, this time, but was rough and cutting and wrong. It made him feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah, the mountain peak above the shrine," Lev said into his knees. "I wanted us to go to the very top, but this was the highest spot I could shove this rock in."

"You put this here? Lev, why are you doing all this? The cats and burgers and, you know.

"I don't know. I just, you feel a little bit like Alisa. It's nice to be around you. And I know you get worried about me and that's nice too."

"I—never mind. So did you always want a brother or something? Kuroo's probably the better guy for that, heh." Ugh. Yaku hated having sweaty palms. 

"It's different..." Lev sighed. "Because I want Alisa to go and have her own life with other dragons and humans and everything. Not just stuck with me."

"I'm sure she doesn't feel—"

"And I want Kuroo-san to stop feeling so sad about his person."

Yaku inhaled sharply. "Lev, did he—"

Lev looked up then, all of a sudden, looked right into his eyes. "But I want you all to myself."

Yaku stopped breathing and turned away. Had to, if he was going to survive this conversation.

Lev didn't wait for an answer. "I used to be afraid of the dark," he said. "I thought it would eat me up every time I closed my eyes... that's what it did to our family. Our entire clan."

"Lev, what—"  _What exactly happened, anyway?_

"But one day, I thought, 'Isn't that what nighttime is?' A dark sky that ate up the world... but we're all fine. Maybe it's keeping us safe. So wherever we are, I try to find the highest point, as far as I can go without Alisa getting worried. A place where I can stretch out and just look  _up_."

Yaku thought about nights spent on the roof of his house, feeling like he had escaped his parents and dreaming about volleyball.

"And think about how you're gonna be the strongest dragon in the world?"

Lev laughed, clear and pure and unclouded. "Yeah, that."

"You probably can be. Maybe.  _If_ you stop being so goddamn lazy. There's no way other dragons can do what you can, right?"

"Dunno. Maybe?"

"God. More dragons can hack up a smoke hairball like a cat? That's unfortunate. For dragons."

"Yaku-san," Lev said carefully. "You  _like_  cats."

"Yeah."

"Are you saying I'm like a—"

Yaku scoffed. "No way. You're like some weird awkward puppy. I don't know. Greyhound?"

"Do you like dogs too?"

"Yeah, I like 'em a lot."

"Oh. Really?! Um..."

"Lev, stop fishing for it."

"... I thought we were talking about dogs?" He looked genuinely confused. Yaku wanted to kick him and hug him at the same time.

"Ask me."

"Huh?"

"Ask me the question Kuroo says you're too chicken to ask."

_So I can say yes, you dork._

"Oh. Yaku-san. Do you like me? Even just a little?"

"Yeah."

Lev scrunched his brows and blinked a couple of times. 

"Wh-what's with that reaction?!" Yaku squawked.

Lev pouted. It was something like 10% forlorn and 90% adorable. "You like cats more than dogs, and—"

"Oh my God you don't believe me. Listen. I like seeing how much you care about your sister. I like how you make it so easy for Kuroo to laugh. I like that you always try your best and you never stop. And honestly? I like the fact that what I say matters to you. So much that it can make you do that crazy fire thing—don't give me that look, I know what you were up to."

If there'd been any moonlight, Lev's expression would've been at least twice as bright. "It won't work any more, now that I know you don't hate me."

"Wh—did you seriously—God, you're such an idiot. You really think I waste this much energy yelling at and chasing after other people?"

"... is that a trick question?"

Yaku opened his mouth, then closed it. "... okay, yeah, that's fair. Just, look. I don't really know you that well, really, so there's not much else I can say. But I do like everything I know about you so far, okay?"

"Can I—" Lev lowered himself onto the ground, letting his head rest in Yaku's lap. He rested on his side and curled his tail around himself.

"Close your eyes," Yaku demanded. "Don't look at me, or I'll kick you off." He ran his fingers through Lev's hair. The dragon  _purred_ , eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"Yaku-san, I like you."

"Mm."

"And you're okay with that."

"Yeah."

"And you like me."

"I'm not saying it again."

"And are you okay with  _that_?"

"Honest answer?"

"Yeah."

"... Give me a little time, all right?  _Ugh stop grinning like that_  I didn't even—"

"I'm happy as long as you don't hate me."

"I'll never hate you. Okay?"

Lev reached up and felt around until he found Yaku's hand.

"Can I—"

Yaku threaded their fingers together. "Just don't do that murder claws thing."

"Huh?"

"Like your sister."

"Oh, yeah. She's pretty great, right?"

Yaku laughed. "Yeah. I like her a lot too."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the locker room after practice, one day.
> 
> "Iwaizumi. Hey. What exactly do you hold on to when you fly on a dragon? To, you know, not die. And to not offend them."
> 
> "Horns are good, pretty sure every dragon with horns'd be okay with it. And there's a spot where their wings join their bodies—wait did you go flying with Lev?"
> 
> "..."
> 
> "You too, huh. It's how they get you, these dragons."
> 
> "So we were, like, wooed by flying."
> 
> "Pretty much. ... I don't hate it though."
> 
> "... Okay yeah, me neither."


	5. Let me see what spring is like

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three months of friendship, love, and everything in between. The perfect calm before the storm.
> 
> (All of them, from now until the end, would eventually make the same wish: "Let us be together like that again, one more time.")

**I. The end of January**

_Fwap!_

Yaku smacked dragon-Lev on the leg with a huge paper fan. It actually kind of stung a little bit, Lev realized, though that didn't really make sense...

"No, no, no. You're not allowed to complain about burning your whiskers off if you forget to get them out of the way!" Yaku fumed.

The dragon slumped belly-first onto the ground. "Yaku-san, this is hard! I'm tired, can't we take a break?"

_Fwap!_

"It's been _five minutes_. Come on, try again."

"But I have to go to the bathroom."

Yaku snorted. "Yeah, like I'm falling for that one again. You don't want me to go get Alisa, do you? She's _right there_  on the other side of the portal."

Steam blew out of Lev's nostrils. "No! She's mean when we're training... okay, I guess I'll—Yaku-san?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yaku pacing back and forth on his left, in and out of sight.

"Hang on, okay? Tell me if something hurts," Yaku said, crossing to Lev's other side and patting him on the snout on the way.

"Done! Feel any different?"

"... No?" Lev said cautiously.

Yaku grinned. "Good. So try again."

Lev screwed up his face in concentration, hoped for the best, and opened his mouth.

A blast of blinding light burst forth with a loud _BOOM_ , a cloud of white-hot sparks that were as bright as fireworks in the dark. The sparks rained down and burned dozens of divots into the ground.

"Whoa." Yaku said, stepping out of the air barrier Tooru had set up behind Lev before they started. He jogged forward, running a hand along Lev's side from tail to head, staring at the space in front of Lev with awe. "That's new. Could be useful, right? Except you'd need to close your eyes, or we'd have to find you sunglasses...?"

Lev watched Yaku mumble to himself about headgear and polarizing filters. "Yaku-san, what did you do?"

"Hm?" Yaku blinked at him. "Oh. I just tucked your whiskers behind some of your scales. Your eyes get all shifty before you fire so I thought they might be distracting you."

"Ehh? That's it?" Lev asked.

Yaku smacked him with the fan again. "You sound disappointed."

"No!" Lev insisted. "It was just... really easy. So if that's it, maybe I can learn lots of other stuff!"

"Psh. Don't get ahead of yourself. You _still_  don't know how to land without eating a mouthful of dirt," Yaku snapped.

"Sorry," Lev said, a little embarrassed. He didn't think it was _that_  obvious. _And it's not a whole mouthful any more!_

Yaku laughed. Hard. "Come on, big scary dragons aren't supposed to pout. I know you'll get it. You just get ahead of yourself sometimes _don't look so pleased with yourself that was NOT a compliment._ "

"You just said you knew you'd get it and I got excited," Lev mumbled, turning his head away. _And I'm happy when you laugh but that's a secret._

For some reason, Yaku did the same. "Stupid. Don't get excited about something that's obviously true...." He trailed off, shook his head, and recovered enough to tell Lev, "It doesn't count until you can do it 50 times in a row."

"Whaaaaaat??"

 

* * *

 

**II. February**

"Tooru-sama... what have we done?"

"Oh, Alisa. We've made them _monsters_."

They collapsed into each other's arms and _wailed_ , tears streaming down their faces.

...

It all started back when Bokuto and Akaashi found a huge crate of beer in front of their apartment right after the new year. It was an early graduation gift for Bokuto from the famous brewery in his hometown, and Bokuto was more than happy to share it with all of his friends and teammates.

By the end of the month, they _still_ had a bunch of bottles left (it really was a _huge_ crate). The beer lay forgotten in the closet once schoolwork and practice went into overdrive. Until Tooru got everyone together for a party to celebrate the return of the Great Horned Owls... the six-week anniversary of it, that is.

(Really, it was because Lev asked him to make sure nobody had to be alone on Valentine's Day.)

So here they were, February 14, in that perfectly sunny meadow with only Tsukishima and Yamaguchi missing from their group (for reasons even Tooru wasn't privy to). There was plenty of beer, of course, so first they drank in honor of their absent friends.  
  
There was also a lot of chocolate, so they drank to that too. Tooru made little sculpted truffles shaped like dragons; Akaashi brought a fancy, store-bought box he got from a girl who _just wouldn't take no for an answer_ ; the unlikely duo of Kuroo and Iwaizumi made a chocolate cake that looked like a stack of pancakes too high for its own good... but everyone agreed (Tooru reluctantly so) that it tasted the best though it looked the worst.

Lev and Alisa arrived late and received a welcoming toast in _their_  honor. The two siblings brought baskets of exotic flowers and fruits that were all either shades of red or shaped like hearts. (Kuroo made a big show of presenting Alisa with one of her own flowers. She giggled—the man could really turn on the charm when he wanted to—and Lev gave him the most brilliant smile of the day.)

Yaku must've missed some part of the planning, because he brought beer. He would regret this decision for the rest of the day.

(Nobody brought any _actual_ food.)

**Lev**

Lev was the first to reach his limit. (Nobody was really surprised.) He started Releasing here and there, dropping his drink when his hand turned into a clawed foot and suddenly bouncing off the ground because his butt had gone dragon. He wasn't put off by everyone's laughter at all; in fact, he seemed to enjoy the attention. So it was good fun for everyone until Iwaizumi doomed them all.

**  
Akaashi**

"Yeah, that setter. Sakishima? Man, I really hate his—mmmff!" Iwaizumi pounded his chest and coughed several times to spit out the piece of fruit Bokuto just shoved in his mouth. Then, before he knew it, Akaashi appeared right in front of him. They were standing almost nose to nose. "Sakishima. _Isumi?_  Is that who you're talking about, Iwaizumi-san?"

Bokuto laughed a little too loudly, even by Bokuto standards. "Akaaaaaashi! No way! Hah! Who's that?" But he was too late.

"Oooo!" Lev pointed with his tail. "Akaashi-san, that looks—"

There was an awful _squelch_ , and then dark red liquid splattered everywhere. On the remaining chocolate, the blanket they sat on, everyone's clothes. Akaashi, breathing heavily, held a handful of the remaining flesh of his innocent victim: one of the plump, red fruits from Alisa's basket. A little misshapen, kind of like—

"—like a human heart!" said Lev.

A clump of the fruit slipped through Akaashi's fingers and fell with a _splat_.

**  
Iwaizumi**

Tooru grabbed a marker and scribbled furiously in a notebook. He threw it on the blanket for everyone to see.

 _"_ **I TOLD you guys but nooooooooo**  
**oooooooooooooooooooo**  
**you had to get Iwa-chan drunk**  
**too bad I only brought ONE set of ear plugs :P"**

Iwaizumi crawled into Tooru's lap.

"Hey. Hey babe. I toldja I'd sing righ'? Jus', jus'lemme kiss you first 'kay?"

Tooru secretly kind of enjoyed this until Iwaizumi licked his ear, pulled out one of his earplugs, and _sang_.

Alisa, who'd let down her guard and uncovered one of her ears, started to cry. Everyone cursed the all-powerful being(s) of their choice and the process of natural selection for giving them ears in the first place.

Tooru grabbed the notebook again.

_" **Captain-san MOVE** "_

Kuroo did his best to scoot away on the blanket without taking his hands away from protecting his ears/sanity.

"Iwa-chan. Iiiiwa-chan," Tooru crooned. "Sing to me over here, 'kay?" Tooru patted the empty spot on the blanket that Kuroo just left. He grabbed the notebook one last time. No one noticed he wasn't actually making any marks on paper, until—

"WhoooaaaaaHHHH!"

Iwaizumi vanished. Everybody's mouths fell open.

Kuroo was the first to drop his hands.

"So, yeah, I'm still pretty bad at this dragon stuff, but—this is a two-part question, by the way. One, did you just drop your boyfriend through a portal and two, did he die?"

Tooru turned his nose up at him. "Yes, no, and _you're welcome._ "

**  
Alisa**

"Oh, _Lyovochka_ , I'm so, so, so sorry. What have they done to you?!"

Her tears fell as quickly as her words.

"Did they get your legs? Part of your tail? You're not Suppressing... did you lose your horns?!" she screeched. She tugged at her hair and looked so defeated that anyone who saw her would be heartbroken.

But it only took her a moment to shake it off, replacing despair with determination. "We'll fix this." She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand. " _I'll_  fix this. I don't think accidental over-Compression is something I've ever heard of, but we'll figure it out. Leave it to your sister, okay?"

"Oh, Lev..." Alisa showered him with wet kisses. "At least you managed to stay in proportion, I don't know how you'd fly if you lost _that_  much length with your legs in the wrong spot—"

Kuroo, watching from a safe distance away, took a sip of his beer. He held the bottle up as a salute.

"Doin' good, Yakkun. Think of it as anger management practice. And some advice, as your Captain: think about kittens and rainbows."

"Fuck off, _Captain_ ," said Yaku, turning away because Alisa was dangerously close to kissing him on the mouth. He threw an empty chocolates box at Kuroo and missed.

**  
Bokuto and Kuroo**

"Bo!"

"Kuroo!"

"Bokuto! My man! My owl! My man-owl!"

"Kuroo! The coolest cat!"

They high-fived with one hand, then the other. Both hands. Fist pounds left, right, both at the same time. And then they stared at each other, looking lost until that moment when you could almost see the lightbulb flicker on above their heads.

They rolled on their backs.

"'eyyy!"

They high-fived each other with one foot, then the other. Both feet.

"Hey hey hey! Look at us! Geniuses! High five, friend!"

"Teamwork!"

They high-fived with one hand, then the other. Both—

"Uggghhhh." Yaku massaged his temples. "You guys too? Seriously? Didn't think you were lightweights."

"Huh? I'm fine. Only had one anyway," said Kuroo.

"Me too! I grew up drinking this stuff. It's like water!" Bokuto explained.

Yaku wanted to cry a little, but that would probably wake Alisa up.

 

**Tooru**

No one really knew why Akaashi brought a glove with him, or why he decided to smack _Lev_ with it. Bokuto had the foresight to move the self-proclaimed duelists  _away_ from the food, drinks, and innocent potential victims.

"I am the cat. Flexible like the cat." Lev swiped a claw at nothing.  
"I am the forest. I am quiet like the forest." He stood perfectly still, then tripped and fell on his side.  
"I am the wind. I am swift like the wind." He flapped one wing but gave up midway.

"Yeah, _yeah?_ " Akaashi hopped around, fists raised like a boxer. "Well, my boyfriend's an owl, motherfucker!"

...

"Tooru-sama..." Alisa whispered, staying far, far away because she wasn't _that_  drunk. "What have we done?"

"Oh, Alisa. We've made them _monsters_."

They collapsed into each other's arms and wailed, tears streaming down their faces.

Yaku frowned. "Seriously, you guys, shouldn't we get Akaashi out of there? We can't find a new setter _this_  late in the season."

"Naaaah," said Bokuto, popping a new bottle open. "I'd maybe get dragon boy out of there."

"Blocking boards are expensive!" Kuroo added.

Yaku really didn't want to ruin the fun, or whatever this was now, but he _really_  did not want to see Lev burn Akaashi to ashes. "I'm going over there."

"But you'll die!" Tooru sobbed. "And then you and Lev will both be dead!"

Yaku rolled his eyes. "Ridiculous," he muttered.

Curiously, it was Bokuto who responded. "I'm sorry about that. Still," he said sheepishly. His hair wilted like a dying plant and he _blushed_. _This_  got Yaku's attention.

Tooru smiled. "It's okay." He tried to pull Bokuto's hair back into normal, pointy spikes. "See, here, Yaku-san." Tooru stuck out his leg, now covered in white scales instead of jeans. But one scale was a little gray, or less reflective, or something...?

"Christmas party," Tooru started to explain. " _Akaashi's_ hand was supposed to break, not my scale!" His smile fell into a pout and _immediately_  turned into a full-on temper tantrum. "Iwa-channnn, where are youuuu?" He kicked his feet up and down on the ground. "You said you'd come with me today! What am I supposed to do if Akaashi stabs me in the butt with his fist?!" He curled up on his side, hugged his tail, and cried. 

"We tried to get Glasses Guy to fix Tooru up," Bokuto said through a mouthful of chocolate cake. "But! He said dragon scales are like toenails. Gotta wait for 'em to grow back in if you break one _hey hey hey!_  Guy's flying! That's good, Akaashi'll try to fly now so he should get tired pretty quick. Probably fall asleep."

Yaku didn't know why he'd ever been afraid of dragons when there was _Akaashi_ to worry about.

**  
Iwaizumi wasn't sure if this was better or worse than that other time**

Iwaizumi woke up to Tooru crawling on top of him.

"Iwa-chan, are you cold? I turned into a blanket for you, see..."

He wasn't sure how he'd made it home nearly two hours before everyone else, but taking a refreshing nap and waking up to Tooru sprawled on top of him like _this_  was a pretty good deal.

"Hey," he chuckled, brushing some hair out of Tooru's eyes and holding him close by his waist. "Welcome back. Want some water?"

"No. No water. Just Iwa-chan—"

"Whoa! _Ahhhh_ , fuck, Tooru, sober up a little before you start—"

_Creeeeeaaakk_

_"Goddamnit, Bokuto, we told you to take your time!"_  
_"Nuh-uh. Nope! You don't live next to these lovebirds. We're getting_ out _."_  
_"Shhhh!"_  
_"No, it's fine! Just go! Go!"_

Iwaizumi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, counted to five, and opened them again.

(He didn't really expect that to work.)

"Tooru, why the _actual fuck_  is EVERYBODY in our bedroom?"

 

* * *

 

**III. March**

"Morisuke, where are you going?"

"Not 'wasting my time on volleyball.' Happy?"

Yaku didn't have time for the usual debate today; he was supposed to be at the park five minutes ago. He left before his dad could stop him.

...

"Hey." Yaku leaned over the back of the park bench and hooked his chin on Lev's shoulder. "What're you reading?"

"Gwahhh!"

"OW!" _Thump_.

Lev looked back at his "attacker" and almost fainted. "Yaku-san?!" He stared at his own hand like he'd never seen it before.

Yaku lay sprawled out on the grass, holding his nose with a tissue. "Stop that," he demanded.

"Huh?" Lev stared at him, now.

"Ugh. Stop _standing there_ , you dork. At least sit down you're _not_ allowed to stand while I'm sitting on the ground anymore. Ever. And stop being nervous too."

Lev did a little hop and plopped on his butt. And tail.

"Ow! Man, that hurts." He grabbed his tail and frowned at the scrape near the tip.

Yaku tried not to laugh. "How are you this clumsy? Here. For your tail." He handed the dragon a fresh tissue.

"So-rry, Yaku-san." But Lev was grinning and held out his tail. "I'm okay. See?"

 _Huh. Like it never happened,_ Yaku thought, taking his tail and poking at where the injury had been. It twitched a bit, and Yaku dropped it like it was on fire.  _Wait... why do I feel so embarrassed? It's just a dragon tail._

He was so fixated on this thought that he didn't notice Lev until—

"Can I?" Lev said softly. He gently took Yaku's hand and the bloody tissue away and leaned in until their noses almost touched.

 _He's always so careful,_ Yaku thought. It warmed his heart but also made him want Lev to shove him to the ground and maybe pull his hair a little before—

There was a bright glow, and Yaku came back to reality. "Damn it!" he yelled, because he'd been having way too many thoughts like this lately. And also because that damn light interrupted one of the better scenarios he'd imagined so far—

"Ahh!" Lev scrambled back away from Yaku. "Did I do it wrong? I thought I was good at these!"

"No! Yes! I mean, you are!" Yaku said in a hurry. "Um. My nose. It's not bleeding."

"Phew! I was worried I'd burnt up the inside of your nose or something."

The Yaku from two or three months ago probably would've squawked at this and made a big deal about dragons being ridiculous and violent. But it was the end of March. The snow was gone. The cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom.

(Seasons change.)

"Nah, that was pretty good." He scratched the tip of one of Lev's horns. "Didn't feel a thing this time."

"Thanks, Yaku-san! It's really easier to do it on an exhale like you said. But I still feel really bad. I didn't think it'd be you, I mean, you never—"

_Why's my face burning when I'm the one giving the compliment?!_

"Go sit on the bench, Lev."

"Huh?"

Yaku shooed him away. "Just do it. Then sit on your hands and _don't move._ "

He pressed himself against Lev's back again, resting his head on the same spot. This time, though, he circled Lev's shoulders with his arms and whispered right into his ear. "I won't forgive you if you do that again. So you better get used to this."

Waves of satisfaction washed over him when he felt Lev shudder.

"Y-Yaku-san?"

"Hm."

"Wouldn't..."

_Huh. His heartbeat's going crazy—_

"Hey, you dork. Calm down."

"I just... " Lev loosened Yaku's grip and held each of his hands. "Wouldn't it be better—"

His voice was deeper, softer, yet rougher around the edges at the same time.

(Yaku suddenly needed to hear him say his name.)

"Yaku-san," Lev breathed.

_Oh._

"Wouldn't this be a lot better if you let me turn around?"

_Oh._

"Oh shit." Yaku took one, two, three steps back.

Lev jumped to his feet and squeaked when he saw Yaku holding a new wad of tissues to his nose.

"Yaku-san! I swear, I didn't hit you this time!" He reached for Yaku with a glowing hand. "Here, I can—"

"Shut up! You can't just say shit like that to me—"

"Sorry!" Lev's face was flaming red. "I don't know what I was thinking I just—"

"—without warning me first! Jeez."

Yaku's nose stopped bleeding by itself, this time.

And it didn't even hurt when Lev's nose collided with his just a second before their lips met.

...

_He tastes like smoke._

_Warm, so warm..._

(The cherry blossoms were blooming, but it felt like summer in a faraway place.)

 _Smoke from a huge bonfire on the beach, ocean waves crashing into jagged rock, a thunderstorm, petrichor._  
_A memory from long, long ago?  
T_ _oo much. Always too much._

_But it wouldn't be him, otherwise._

...

Yaku pulled back. "What the hell was that?" (A feeble attempt at sounding mad, at best.)

"I..." Lev bit his lip. ( _You're killing me, Lev, you really are._ ) "I thought since I was already in trouble, I might as well..."

"So you kissed me because you were scared."

"No!" Lev went from bright red to white as a sheet of paper in less than a second.

"Lev," Yaku said sternly.

The dragon looked at him with wide eyes.

 _Seriously, like cat eyes._  Yaku couldn't look away. Not like he wanted to.

He gave Lev a crooked smile. "Like a goddamn skyscraper. My neck hurts. We are SO sitting down next time."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Yakkun, what is this." Kuroo waved his phone in front of Yaku's face. 
> 
> Yaku took a quick peek and didn't bother taking it from him. It was just a picture from yesterday. "What? It was Saturday. We went to the meadow. Asked you to come with, remember?"
> 
> "No no, _this_." Kuroo offered his phone to Yaku again.
> 
> It was the same picture.
> 
> "... Oh, you mean. Why did he even send that to you? It's all blurry because Tooru couldn't stop laughing when he took it."
> 
> "Well, Tooru sent it to me, actually. And it's not _that_ blurry," Kuroo replied. "I think his photography skills are excellent." 
> 
> "... Okay, what's the punchline."
> 
> Kuroo grinned. "You know me so well. Riiiiight there," he said, zooming in on Yaku. "On the left. Your left in the picture."
> 
> Yaku stopped breathing. He slapped his hand on his neck. "No way." 
> 
> "Didn't you see your mom at lunch?"
> 
> "Yeah, she kept ducking down and staring at m— _why didn't you say anything this morning?!_ "
> 
> "I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, because hickeys don't usually look like a vampire got to you? A pretty lousy one though, you can see other teeth marks in between—"
> 
> "Oh my God."
> 
> "So, how's he look with fangs? Pretty cool?"
> 
> "Shut up. _Shut up!_ "


End file.
